Wreath card

Hi Everyone!



When I woke up this morning I realized that the cold/sinus infection/ear infection that lingered in my body for weeks has finally left town. Hooray! Just in time too because I have a very busy schedule this week.


Some of you know that my daughter Marie works as an activities assistant in a nursing home. We sit together about once a week and plan her activities. It fascinates me that many of the activities that work the best with the seniors are the same activities that work the best in an early childhood classroom. Happily for Marie I have TONS of resource books, music, craft supplies, etc. that she can use.

Last night as Marie flipped through some old craft books she spotted a wreath that she decided she would make with the seniors. The wreath form was created out of a paper plate that had the middle cut out of it. The instructions suggested that you cut the colorful parts of old Christmas cards into different size circles and glue them onto the wreath. Instead of using old Christmas cards, Marie and I used some of my paper crafting punches and punched circles from scraps of patterned paper. Then Marie glued the circles onto a paper plate wreath form. She was pleased with the results and so was I.


I was laying in bed this morning thinking about that wreath when I had an idea. Why not use that same concept to create a card! I jumped out of bed, grabbed some scraps of paper from the SEI Kris Kringle collection and a half inch and one inch circle punch. I quickly punched lots of circles out of my scraps.


I cut a piece of layering paper to 4" x 5.25" and traced a 3.25" circle onto it. Then I glued the one inch circles I had punched onto that circle. Then I glued the half inch circles onto different parts of the larger circles.


I wanted a wreath for my bow, but didn't want to use ribbon. I am making cards for my sister Pam to send out to her friends and co-workers and don't want her to have to worry about extra postage for bulky cards so I decided to make a paper bow.

I used a Martha Stewart bow punch and punched out a bow. It was too small for my wreath. I put the punched out bow on my scanner, enlarged it at 175%, and printed a pattern. I used the pattern to cut the bow out of some green scrapbook tag. I attached the bow to the wreath with a brad. I stamped "Happy Holidays" onto another scrap of SEI paper, mounted it on a scrap of green tag, and attached the message to my card. Love it! It was quick and easy to create and helped me use some of my scraps.


So....if you give a mouse a cookie...as I sit here looking at this card I am thinking...hearts...different size punched hearts...but that's for another time!


Have a great day!
Carol

I'm Back...again!

Hi Everyone!


I'm back!  I've missed you and hope you have missed me. For several weeks a cold was wearing me down. The cold transformed into a sinus infection and an ear infection that completely wiped me out and sent me to bed. Happily after a week of taking antibiotics I am starting to feel energized again.

Backtracking just a little...
I had the most amazing Thanksgiving in my life. My son, Robbie, baked 4 beautiful pies from scratch...apple, blueberry, mince, and pumpkin. My daughter, Marie, made the most incredible stuffing, a yummy squash casserole, a delicious peas and corn casserole, glazed carrots with cranberries, and a perfect lump free gravy. I just roasted the turkey, made mashed potatoes, and baked some date nut bread. I couldn't have asked for a nicer day.  I was and am so proud of both of my children. 

I haven't created many cards lately, but I do have a few to share with you today. I played with all of my small alphabet stamp sets and couldn't get the size and look that I wanted for the message on this card. Finally I decided to create the text on my computer. I was very satisfied with how it turned out.  I printed the text and ran the paper through a Cuttlebug music embossing folder. The holly leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart holly punch. The holly berries were created with Stickles.

I used a variety of tools to create this card. I am not sure that you can see all of the effects in my photograph. I used my copic markers to color the snowman's cheeks because I don't have any pink watercolor pencils...YET! I used watercolor pencils to color the snowman's scarf and arms. I am pretty much convinced that I like using watercolor pencils more than I do my small collection of copic markers. My very dear friend, Susan DeMuth, gave me a cool watercolor brush that has a tube that is filled with water. As you paint water over the pencils you give the brush the tube a little squeeze and more water drips onto the brush.

I used a glue pen and some very fine glitter to add some sparkle to the outline of the snowman and snow. I used a glitter marker to color the snowflakes and added a tiny rhinestone to the center of each of the larger snowflakes. The snowman's eyes are tiny black adhesive jewels.  I used Stickles to embellish the buttons. I put glossy accents on the carrot nose.  The snowman stamp is from Great Impressions and the text was stamped with a Studio18 stamp.

The ornament on this card was created with a Sizzix ornament die. . The text was created with stickers and I used a small Fiskars paper punch to create the snowflakes.










The traffic report that I receive from blogger showed that one of my Thanksgiving cards posts was opened 341 times! The report also shows that I have lots of readers each day. I wish that more readers would become followers and leave comments so that this blog can become more interesting and more interactive. Since I know from experience how much time it takes to write a post and add photographs to the post, I am now making more of an effort to leave comments on blogs that I follow.

I am going to end this post with some thoughts and a question and hope that at least some of the readers of this blog will post a response to it. You'll have to sign up as a follower, but that's easy to do. Just follow the instructions that will appear on your screen.  When I first started to stamp I preferred clear stamps to wooden ones because I could see through them as I stamped so I knew exactly where I was stamping. Now I prefer the feeling of a wooden stamp. 
Here's today's question...
Do you prefer to stamp with clear or wooden stamps and why?

Talk to you again soon. 
Carol

Jeremiah Was a Bull Frog

Good Morning Everyone!

Have you ever walked into a store and had something "call out to you"? Well, that's what happened to me a few days ago. I walked into HomeGoods and saw a lamp that I just had to buy! Was this lamp created for me or what!!!

The pompoms came in it and they don't come out. Well, maybe they'd come out if I loosened the hexagonal nut at the base of the lamp, but other pompoms wouldn't coordinate with the shade. Do the colors coordinate with my dining room which is where I do my crafting? No, not at all. Do I care? No, not at all! The lamp was just too cool to pass up and adds a fun touch to my crafting area.

My daughter, Marie, has been creating the most awesome things. Cupcakes, cakes, the watermelon turtle that I shared with you a while ago, different flavors of popcorn, and most recently candy. I bought her a Wilton chocolate melter and a few nights ago she was dipping everything in the house in melted chocolate...rod pretzels, tiny pretzels, popcorn, raisins, craisins, marshmallows, cereal, and more. Yesterday she made some peanut butter cups for Lisa's birthday and wanted to make a box for them. We found a "Timeless template" on PaperTreyInk's web site called Captured card case, purchased it, downloaded it, and created some boxes.

Here's the window box I created. I used one of my oval nestabilities to create the window.  I used a piece of a transparency for the "glass" in the window. 

The box is perfect for candy.  The box is also perfect for A2 cards! My sister, Pam, ordered 50 Christmas cards and 25 gift tags. The boxes hold about 15 embellished cards and their envelopes. So in addition to cards and gift tags, Pam will be getting some boxes that she can use as storage for small gifts.

Pam wants an assortment of cards.  She lives in California and would like them to arrive some time next week so I must settle down and get to work. Do you remember the song, "Joy to the World" that Three Dog Night sang back in the Seventies? The opening words are "Jeremiah Was a Bull Frog".

While I was exploring the Addicted to Rubber Stamps web site, I saw the "Xmas in the Pond" stamp from Penny Black stamps, I thought of that song and knew I had to use it on some of my cards. I found a "Joy to the World" stamp at Michaels. I mounted the frogs and text on musical patterned paper from this year's dcwv small Christmas Combo block. I used watercolor pencils to color the frogs.

I may post again in a day or two, but in case I don't I hope that all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving. Remember to save room for dessert and hot tea of course.

Carol

 

More Ornaments

Hi Everyone!
I haven't abandoned you!  As I said a few days ago I have been as busy as one of Santa's elves.  Today I will share photographs of a few more of the ornaments I created. 

Tootsie roll lollipop ornaments are easy to create.  They're made from a 1.5 inch styrofoam ball, a lollipop stick, and a 6-inch square of fabric.  I used the pinking blade of my fabric rotary cutter to help me cut the fabric squares.  I used a hot glue gun to attach the lollipop sticks to the styrofoam balls.

I threaded a piece of gold cord through the center of each fabric square and created a loop so that the lollipops can be hung on a tree.  Then I draped the fabric square over the styrofoam ball.  I wrapped and tightly tied  a 10-inch length of thin ribbon around the fabric on the ball. 

I've had a box of small embellishments sitting on one of my shelves for years.  I used them to decorate some tiny wreaths.  The wreaths can be hung from a tree or used as napkin rings. 

When I was out shopping the other night I saw a pop-up sort of card that I liked and decided to make one of my own.  The outside of it has some snowflakes that were created from a Marvy Uchida giga snowflake punch and the words "A gift for you."  Those words were created with clear alphabet stamps from Lawn Fawn called Harold's ABCs.  I LOVE those stamps.  I've only had them for a few weeks, but have used them so many times when I had a message that I wanted to create, but didn't have a stamp with that message.  After I took a picture of the card and studied the picture I decided to add some rhinestones to the snowflakes just to make them sparkle a bit more.

It's a bit hard to see the inside of the card.  I used a Sizzix Bigz Spiral/Garland die and cut 2 spirals.  First I glued 2 sheets of decorative paper inside the card.  Then I added the 2 spirals.  I embellished the spirals and the decorative papers with snowflakes that I paper punched and cut from some dies. 

I created and printed some business cards that say, "Place any gift card here" so that the people who purchase the card will know it's a gift card holder.  I used some photo corners to attach the message card to the card.  The card was a little labor intensive especially since I had to play around for a while to figure out how to create it.  Now that it's done, I really like it. 
Tomorrow is the craft fair at St. Joseph's Parish in Wakefield.  I'll be there with my drum, wreath, lollipop and knitting basket ornaments; my tea light cupcakes, my hostess candle and matches sets, and hundreds of cards for all occasions. 
Have a great night!
Carol

Santa's Workshop

Good Morning Everyone!


Shhh! I'll tell you a little secret. Santa's workshop isn't really at the North Pole. It's here...in my dining room...in Massachusetts!

I have been as busy as Santa's elves. While I was coloring some of my "warm winter wishes" cards I had an idea. I thought of an ornament I made years ago that was a basket of knitting. After tracking down the little baskets I made a few of the ornaments and took them to the craft fair in Acton. They sold immediately so I have been making more of them for the next 2 craft fairs. I used some of my paper crafting ribbon to edge the baskets.

I had such a good time making the knitting basket ornament that I decided to make some other ornaments too. These drums are my favorite. As you can see they are made from small papier mache boxes that are covered with scrapbook paper. The drumsticks are made from tiny craft sticks with a pony bead on the end of them. The boxes can be opened, but I am going to discourage people from doing that because the cording that I used for the drum hangers makes the covers fit very tightly on the boxes. If you make these drums and don't plan to use them as ornaments, skip the cording and the boxes will open easily.


Will be back again in a day or two to share some other ornaments with you. Have a great day!
Carol

Just Checking In

Hi Everyone!

I know that I haven't posted in quite a while so I thought I would stop by to say hello.  I have been in Craft Fair mode so I have been busy creating duplicates and slight variations of cards I have already posted on this blog.   I will be at St. Joseph's Craft Fair in Wakefield on November 20 and at the Polar Bear Fair in Reading on December 11. 



I was asked to create an oversized retirement card that measured 8.5" x 11" when it was folded.  I was told that the retiree loves the beach.  One of the books I own, Fast and Fun Folded Cards edited by Tanya Fox, has a card in it that I referred to as I created my card.  This book from Annie's Attic has photographs and directions for a nice variety of folded cards and gift card holders. 

I followed the simple folding technique directions that were in the book and created the umbrella that you see on the card.  I have used those same directions to create tiny umbrellas as well as oversized ones for a bulletin board.  The sand is created from pieces of torn sandpaper.  All of the other pieces are embellishments that I had in my stash. 





Have a great day!
Carol

Hanukkah, Candy Canes and Yarn!

Hi Everyone!
I have so many stories to share with you today and of course some cards to go along with those stories.

I purchased and 2 days later received a set of Hanukkah stamps from Lawn Fawn. I love everything about this fairly-new-company. I always receive my order 2 days after I place it. The quality of the stamps is exceptional and I especially love the fonts they use on their stamps. The set of Hanukkah stamps includes a dreidel, a Star of David, a menorrah, and the phrase "Happy Hanukkah".

Here's one of the cards I created with the dreidel stamp. Whenever I see a dreidel I think of the "Dreidel Song" we used to sing in school back in the days when we did sing Christmas and Hanukkah songs in school. While I was creating the card I was singing the song to myself. I embossed the layering paper with a Cuttlebug music embossing folder before I attached it to the card. The text was created with some stickers. The dreidels are attached to the card with pop dots to make them look more realistic. I think that a child would love to receive this card.

I also ordered a set of Harold's ABCs from Lawn Fawn.  Harold's ABCs is a set of 103 upper and lowercase letter stamps.  There are multiples of most of the lowercase letters which means you can create complete phrases all at once and stamp them on your card.  I created several different versions of this "Oh Christmas Tree" card.  I used a musical embossing folder for the background of some of the cards and a Christmas tree embossing folder for the background of others.  I used an EK Success pine tree punch to create the trees.

I told you that Toni and I went to Ink About It in Westford, MA on Thursday. I behaved myself and only bought a few stamps, about a dozen sheets of paper, and one package of cards. One of the stamps that called out to me was a basket of yarn and a second one was a stocking being knitted. I HAD to purchase both of those stamps. I've shared my memories of my mother and her knitting with you. When I see knitting and sewing stamps I immediately think of my mom. When I see tea stamps I think of Jan and when I see anything "dog" I think of Jeanne. That's just the way my mind works.

Here's the first card I created with my new knitting theme stamps. I LOVE it. "Sending warm fuzzies" is from a set of Hero Arts clear stamps. Some of my Christmas cards will have the same images on them along with the text "warm winter wishes" . I know I have that stamp in my collection.

My head is spinning as I have so many cards planned. A few weeks ago I saw a new Fiskars candy cane squeeze punch in one of the chain stores. I wanted it, but didn't have a coupon with me and it wasn't on sale, so I waited. While I was at Ink About It I saw some candy cane paper that I KNEW would be perfect with that punch so I bought 2 sheets of the paper, went to JoAnn's and bought the punch and came home to "play" with my new toys. Remember the "Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life" wooden stamp that I used over and over again this past summer. Well, I thought that would be a great stamp to use with candy canes. I bought some red and white cord at Michaels yesterday, but it turned out it's a little too stiff to use the way I had planned so I will save it for gift bags, etc. I glanced up at rolls of ribbon that are on the shelf in front of me and sitting there waiting for me patiently was a roll of ribbon with candy canes on it. Perfect. I also found some tiny plastic candy canes in one of my clear storage containers. So here's my card. I embossed the layering paper with a swirly Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I will be at the Fall Flaire Craft Show in Acton next Saturday, November 6. On November 20 I will be at the Saint Joseph's Craft Fair in Wakefield and on December 11 I will be at the Polar Bear Craft Fair in Reading. Meanwhile I have also been busy creating more cards for the Wayland Depot.


I have lots of other cards to share with you, but for now I must get back to work.
Have a great weekend.
Carol