SEI Mimosa petals Valentine

Happy New Year Everyone!



It's the middle of the afternoon on December 31 and as Rob would say I am "just chillin'". I've done some cleaning, made some valentines, and have been thoroughly enjoying this last day of 2010.

While I was cleaning I came across a package of SEI Mimosa petals paper flowers. I took one of the flowers out of the package. The petals on it looked like hearts to me. I cut off one of the petals so I could play around with it. The remaining flower looked like a butterfly to me...and that lead to this card.

I ran the layering paper through a Marvy Uchida heart crimper. Then I used a Martha Stewart hearts edger paper punch to embellish the bottom edge of the layering paper. I mounted the paper onto a dark peach card that perfectly matched my butterfly and heart and used some pop dots to attach the butterfly and heart to my card.  (My photograph doesn't do the colors of the card, butterfly, and heart justice as they appear to be more orange than peach.)  The butterfly's trail, antennae and body were created with strips of Recollections pearl embellishments. I used SEI chocolate milk alphabet puff stickers for the lettering.


It's a clean and graphic card and it works for me. Hope you like it too.


Enjoy your night!
Carol

Moving to a New Home Cards

Hi Everyone!
One of the things I love about making my own cards is that I don't need to run to the store each time I want to send someone a card. I just dig into my stash of paper and stamps and create a card I need for any occasion.



Okay, I admit it. Sometimes it takes a little more planning than that. I knew that a couple of special people in my life were moving to new homes so I went to one of my favorite stamp sites, www.addictedtorubberstamps.com, put in keywords such as "new home" and "house" and found what I wanted. Two days later the stamps I had ordered were sitting in my mailbox. The next time someone moves to a new home, I'll already have some stamps to use.


Yesterday my sister Jeanne moved from her condo into her first house. About a month ago my friend Sandy moved from her house into her first condo. These events called for a congratulations card because we all know that buying a new home and moving into it aren't easy things to do.

The text on this card is from "A Country Welcome" stamp that I purchased from http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/. I found the paper piecing pattern for the house on the Scrapbooks, ETC. web site. The paper I used for the house and the grass is from Cosmo Cricket's "Material Girl" mini deck. I toyed with the idea of using paper that would make a more realistic looking house, but decided this paper was much more fun.

I used my Martha Stewart fringing scissors to fringe the grass. After I had glued everything onto some gingham look layering paper from my stash I ran the paper through a Cuttlebug embossing folder to give it a quilted look. Now the fringe on the grass doesn't show up as well, but that's okay with me. I love the look of the card.  (I moved the rhinestone doorknob back onto the door after I studied my photograph!)

Jeanne asked me to make her some change of address cards. "Riley" is the love of Jeanne's life. Riley is Jeanne's dog. So when I found the Great Impressions doghouse stamp I used on the fronts of these cards I knew it was the perfect stamp for Jeanne's cards.   The dog bones were cut from a Sizzix die.

After stamping the image onto some white tag I used watercolor pencils and some of my Marvy Twinklette markers to color the image. I put a coat of glossy accents over the dog. Actually I discovered it was better for me to put the glossy accents on first so that "Riley" didn't end up with red paws when I watercolored the doghouse. The "I've Moved" text inside the card is from a JudiKins stamp.  I used a variety of papers from the dcwv Pets Stack for the layering papers on the cards.

I used PaperTreyInk's Around the Town timeless template to create a gift bag for the cards. The paper I used for the gift bag and tag is from dcwv Nana's Kitchen block.


 
 
 
Have a great night!
Carol

Organization page 1

Hi Everyone!

The January issues of many magazines feature articles on organization. January sales often include storage products to help us organize paperwork for taxes and products to help us organize the rooms in our homes. I know that when I first started to post on this blog I shared photographs and thoughts on ways that I organize my papercrafting tools. Most of my organization system has remained the same over the past 10 months, but I figured I'd update my photographs and share my thoughts with old and new readers of this blog.

A year ago I preferred stamping with clear stamps. I still purchase and use clear stamps, but wooden stamps are now my first choice. My wooden stamps are stored on the wall so that I can see them as I work. Some are in a teak flatware organizer, some are in an open shadow box, and some are in a wooden shelf as they were a year ago. Others are now in those fabric covered drawer organizers that in Massachusetts can be found in Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and HomeGoods stores. The organizers are very sturdy and when I stand them up on one of their sides they work as "shelves" for my stamps. I try to keep the stamps organized by theme and as the seasons change I rotate them so that the current season is right above my computer screen.

My clear stamps are stored in clear cd cases as are my Nestability dies. I've never taken the time to label the cases and I am guessing I never will. I store them roughly in alphabetical order and I can locate what I want easily.

My ink pads are in the same flatware organizer that they were stored in a year ago. It works for me. I still mainly use ColorBox ink pads, but I use Memento ink pads more and more often and have added additional ones to my collection. The organizer is now filled, but there are a few ink pads that I can move out if I purchase more of my preferred ones.

I store some of my ribbon on a paper towel holder that just happens to have a wooden shelf on it. I now store my mini ribbon rolls in a plastic organizer and additional rolls of ribbon in a larger plastic organizer. They are sorted by color and I can easily see what I have.

I still have some of my brads displayed in a corkboard on the wall. I rarely use those brads. They add color to my work area. I use the brads that are stored in silicone muffin wrappers on a small cupcake stand. I simply pick up the muffin wrapper that has the brads I want to use and place it next to me as I work. I used to store brads in votive candle holders, but now find this works the best for me. The cupcake stand holds 12 muffin wrappers and doesn't take up much room on my worktable.

I picked up this 3 tiered basket in HomeGoods. I like it because I can store lots of things in a small area. I always keep my hand punches in the top tier. Depending upon what I am creating, I change the contents of the other 2 baskets.

Lots more photographs and thoughts to share with you so please stop by again soon.

 

 

Carol

 

 

Bee My Valentine

Hi Everyone!



Hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as we did. Marie and Robbie continue to amaze me. Marie made lots of candy and cookies this year. She "painted" snowflakes, Santa, and snowmen on her candies and then made boxes for the candy and "maps" like you find in a box of Whitman samplers that tell you which candy is which. She turned ordinary bakery bags into decorated bags that looked as yummy as her cookies. Unfortunately we were all so busy we didn't stop to take pictures of any of our creations.


Robbie and I baked between 600 and 700 cookies during the week that lead up to Christmas. That's not quite as many as we usually bake, but we were pleased with our results and had fun working together.


My camera broke a few months ago so I have been using Marie's camera. I was very excited to discover that Jeanne and Marie bought me a new one for Christmas. Marie also gave me a gift certificate to Michaels and some valentine stickers to help me get started on my valentines. Robbie gave me a "Care package" that was filled with logs for the fire, an amazing variety of diabetic snacks, and lots and lots of tea bags.

I've already put some of the stickers from Marie, a couple of the logs, some of the snacks, and lots of the tea bags to good use. I used my Scor-Buddy to help me set up the grid for this first card. "Happy Valentine's Day" was stamped with a text stamp from My Sentiments Exactly. I used a Fiskars scalloped heart punch and a Martha Stewart heart punch to create the heart in the bottom right hand corner of the card. If you looked closely you can see that I paper pierced the white heart to make it look lacy.

I saw the idea for this tea bag holder on Teri Anderson's blog a few days ago. If you go to her blog you will find the instructions for it. I used a "purple" Marvy Uchida scalloped heart punch for the white heart and a "pink" Marvy Uchida heart punch for pink heart. As I did on my card I paper pierced the edges of the white heart to give it a lacy look. I use that technique a lot because it's simple to do and adds so much to the punch out. The message "Be Mine" was created with some 7/16" dot white stickers from Making Memories. I backed 2 bee stickers (made 2 of them) to each other so that I could fold their wings and add dimension to them. I only attached their bodies to the heart. I wrapped 6 tea bags in some red ribbon that has hearts on it and slid them into the holder.

Have a great day!
Carol

Thank you card

Hi Everyone!

I have one card to share with you before I rush out to teach a cardmaking class.  I am very excited about some mini envelope templates created by JudiKins that I purchased at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA the other day when MaryBeth and I were out shopping.  A few people who know me know that I love "mini" things and that's why these templates caught my eye.  They're made of plastic so they can be used over and over again. 

I decided to use the gift tag envelope on my card.  I traced and scored the template onto a sheet of SEI frost paper from their Winter Song collection, cut and folded what I had traced and created an adorable mini envelope.  It reminds me of the envelopes from The Jolly Postman which used to be one of Marie's favorite books.

Cut a small piece of white tag and used a Stampendous "Thank you" stamp to stamp my message onto the tag.  Then I ran the white tag through a Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder.  I used a couple of markers to highlight some of the raised dots on the tag.   

Cut a piece of SEI flurry kisses from their Winter Song collection to use for the layering paper on my white card.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to add some fun to the red and white checked side of the paper.  And that's it!  A cute card made in a very short time!

Off to teach some adults some papercrafting tricks! 

Have a great day!
Carol

New Year's cards

Hi Everyone!

I've decided to share some New Year's cards with you today. This first card was created with one of my favorite stamps, a snowman from Great Impressions. The position of the snowman's arms gives me the impression that he's exclaiming "Joy to the World", "Merry Christmas", "Happy Birthday", or "Happy New Year".



"Happy New Year" was stamped with A Country Welcome stamp that I purchased from www.addictedtorubberstamps.com


I used my watercolor pencils to color the snowman's cheeks, nose, arms, and scarf. I outlined the snowman with a Quickie Glue pen and then sprinkled fine white glitter onto the glue. I ran the blue background paper through a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder.

You'll find party hats and noisemakers at many New Year's parties. I dug through my birthday party papercrafting stash and found some party hats and the Stampendous noisemaker rubber stamp that I used to make this card. I ran the layering paper you see on the card through a Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder. I used markers to highlight some of the dots to make them look like confetti.
 
Time for more baking! 
 

Have a great day!
Carol

Holiday Gift Tags

Good Morning Everyone!

My grandmother, Nana Riley, "turned me on" to reading magazines. She subscribed to many "Women's" magazines: Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Woman's Day, Better Homes & Gardens, and McCalls. We'd sit side by side and read the short stories in them. Remember cutting out the Betsy McCall paper dolls from each issue of McCalls? When I was younger my grandmother cut them out for me along with "food" for the dolls to eat and "furniture" for their homes.

I had to make this centerpiece.  I think the idea
is from Martha Stewart's Living magazine.

Many years later I still enjoy flipping through magazines. I especially love the December issues which are usually filled with holiday recipes, ideas on ways to decorate your home, suggestions for last minute gifts, and photographs of clever ways to wrap your gifts and create gift tags.


In this age of technology we can receive daily newsletters from many magazine companies helping us celebrate the "25 days of Christmas", the " 12 days of Christmas", and we are e-mailed last minute holiday ideas.


Although I am not a scrapbooker I subscribe to Scrapbooks, ETC. magazine. Each issue is always packed with ideas that I use as a cardmaker and a papercrafter.  The December issue was especially exciting because it had lots of ideas for creating amazing gift tags. Their web site had even more ideas and none of them were duplicates from the magazine. I especially loved this snowman tag (click here to see it) and knew I had to make some of them.


When MaryBeth and I were shopping at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA yesterday I bought a "To...From..." rubber stamp that is made by Great Impressions. I own several different Sizzix tag dies and use especially one of them a lot. Although I could easily just cut the tags that I want more often than not I cover the entire die with paper and cut out all 3 sizes of tags.  I often use the small and medium tags on my cards.  That leaves me with a huge stack of large tags. 


Last night I went through the large tags and picked out ones I could use to make some Christmas gift tags. I used my tuxedo black Memory box dye ink stamp to quickly stamp "to...from..." on each tag.

First I made some snowmen tags. I "copied" the idea from the Scrapbooks, ETC. web site, but added a scarf to each of my snowmen.

Then I dove into my stash of Christmas goodies. I used my reindeer and Christmas tree paper punches to create some tags.

I used some dimensional and puffy epoxy stickers to create other tags.

I put some felt embellishments on other tags.

In just a couple of hours I had a nice collection of handmade tags to put on the gifts and homemade cookies we will be giving to our neighbors, friends and family.


I wish I could just sit here and create, but I have been a little "too creative" lately and now I have some major cleaning to do today.
 
Hope you have a great day.
Carol

'Tis the Season

Hi Everyone!



I still have lots of Christmas cards and other goodies to share with you before Christmas arrives. Hopefully, you'll find the time to create just a few more cards for your friends and family.


I am dedicating today's first card to my friend Susan DeMuth from Shapes, ETC. When she traveled from Dansville, New York to visit me in Massachusetts over Columbus Day weekend she brought me lots of surprises and more importantly taught me how to use watercolor pencils. I now LOVE to watercolor my stamped images and am getting better and better at shading my images. Today I gave another friend, MaryBeth, a set of watercolor pencils as one of her Christmas gifts so that she too can see how much fun they are to use.

For this first card I used my ScorBuddy to help me score the grid that you see on the card. I cut a piece of white tag so that it measured 4" wide by 5.25" tall. I scored a 1/8" border along all 4 sides which left me a space that measured 3.75" wide and 5" tall. Starting from the 1/8" border I scored another line every 1.25" going across. Starting from the 1/8" border I also scored another line every 1.25" going down. As you can see in the photograph I ended up with 3 squares going across and 4 squares going down. I used a black Memento (dye ink) pad to stamp a pair of mittens in every other square. Then I used my watercolor pencils to color the mittens. I used one of my Marvy Twinklette markers to color in the mitten strings. I used a red Memento (dye ink) pad to stamp the 'Tis the Season message in every other square.

I created the same grid on this card before I stamped the snowmen and the text. After I used my Marvy Twinklette markers to color the tiny snowmen I ran my paper through a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. It made the grid lines disappear, but that was okay with me because I had just needed them to help me set up the card.


MaryBeth and I were talking about how much we both like to look at photographs of other people's cards so I will share pictures of some of the other cards I am sending out this year.

Have a great weekend.
I'll try to stop by to show you some other creations.
Carol

Gift Card Holders

Hi Everyone!



Just 9 more days until Christmas! I have some of our cookies baked, some of the decorations up, some of my cards written, and most of my shopping done. I write notes inside of most of my cards so it takes forever to get them done.


My sister Pam LOVED the 50 cards that I made for her. There were just a few duplicates and I was proud of each card that I sent her. I made boxes for them too.


Speaking of boxes...Marie has always loved surprises. If you knew her that might surprise you because she has always been this whirl of energy who gets into everything. So for years I made sure that all of her gifts were in boxes and wrapped tightly. One year I put her gifts in cereal, cookie, and CheezIts boxes just to throw her off. Her reaction was so funny that since then I always wrap a few gifts in recycled boxes.


As my kids have gotten older I have started to give them more gift cards as gifts so that they can pick out what they like/want/need. I use Timeless Templates from PaperTreyInk to create some of the gift card holders that I make for the gift cards.

This "Target" gift bag was made with the small Around Town tote. This "Dunkin' Donuts" gift box was made with a Rounded Wrap Up template.

This "Papa Gino's" pizza box was made with instructions I found on the Scor-Pal web site. I searched google images for each logo and copied and pasted them onto their box or bag. Since the gift card holders are wrapped inside of recycled boxes which are also wrapped no one knows exactly what they are getting until they have unwrapped the entire gift.



This morning I took pictures of more Christmas cards so please stop by tomorrow to see what I made.


Have a great day!
Carol

Santa suit

Hi Everyone!

One night while Marie and I were shopping we spotted some adorable paper napkins that looked like a Santa suit. We both thought they were cute, but didn't buy them. We've decided that we want those napkins, but cannot remember where we saw them. Since that night we have seen paper plates that look like a Santa suit, a Santa suit shower curtain, hand towels that look like a Santa suit, and a Santa suit blanket, but not the paper napkins.

I decided to make a Santa suit card. It's an A2 card. I cut red glitter paper for the layering paper that measures 4" x 5.25". The white glitter paper measures 1.5" x 5.25". The belt is one inch wide and 4" long. I cut a 1.75" x 1.25" piece of gold glitter paper for the belt buckle. I used one of my small rectangle nestabilities to cut the center out of the belt buckle. I used a corner rounder punch to round the "shoulders" of the suit on the red glitter paper and the card itself.



Enjoy!
Carol