Doors Altered Frame and Card

Hi Everyone!

Woo hoo!  It's Saturday.  I have a cardmaking class here this afternoon with a few friends which is always a blast.  After that I am free, free, free to create until Monday morning!  There are so many cards and projects that I want to make that I have barely been able to sleep. 
I saw the idea for this ornament in the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest publication, Holiday Crafts 2011. 

I used a large clear plastic ornament and filled it with strips from two 12" x 12" sheets of KasierCraft music patterned paper.  The ornaments come in glass too, but I chose the plastic and am glad that I did because I dropped mine a few times while I was maneuvering the strips into it.   If you try this project I suggest that you wrap the strips as loosely as you can so that the roll just fits through the opening.  I used a crochet hook to help turn the strips so that I could see the words.

When I was in Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA about a week ago I purchased some door cutouts that the store had punched out and packaged.  I also purchased some pieces of screen that can be used with the door to make a screen door.  I think the screens are adorable, but I am saving them for spring and summer cards.  I cut up some sheets of clear tag from PaperTrey Ink to use as "glass" for my doors. 
I loved the door cutouts so much that I ordered the die from Cheery Lynn Designs.

First I used the door and clear tag to create this card.

The cat die comes with the door die.  I stamped a wooden A Muse Vine Wreath a little off center in the window.  I added red Stickle berries and a bow that was punched from a Martha Stewart paper punch.  You may not be able to tell from the picture, but I cut a sheet of white tag to use as the front of the house.  I scored every half inch to make the white look like strips of wood. 

While I was sitting in my new couch reading last night I glanced up at the craft display I have on my mantle and noticed one of the tiny grapevine wreaths that was sitting there.  Suddenly an idea jolted through my body.  My fingers had a hard time keeping up with the ideas that were racing through my mind.  I cut 3 house fronts from red tag and 3 white doors from white tag.  I sandwiched some "glass" between the 2 pieces of each door before I adhered them to the red tag.  I adhered the red tag to my frame and then I used a hot glue gun to attach a small grapevine wreath to each door.  Love it!

I use those tiny wreaths as ornaments and as napkin rings.  The ribbon and decorations on them are from my collection of "stuff".  Yes, I have a lot of cool "stuff".  A lot.

Not sure if I will add some text to the frame.  I am thinking about it.

Okay, Diane will be here soon and will be followed by Angela and Amy. 

Have a great weekend.  I will try to stop by again tomorrow.

Carol

Holiday Trees Altered Frame

Hi Everyone!

Last night I watched an awesome Hero Arts video called "Sparkling Holiday Trees" that was presented by the incredibly talented and humorous Julie Ebersole.  Here's the link to that video
http://www.heroarts.com/learning/technique.cfm?techID=229

I already have a set of Hero Arts cling Christmas tree stamps and a wooden Memory Box Christmas tree stamp so I didn't need any new tree stamps, but I did purchase the Xyron X sticker maker last night.  That was a great decision.

I used 2 shades of green Memento dye inks to stamp my trees on white tag.  Then I fussy cut them and ran them through the Xyron machine the way Julie explained in her blog.  Instead of creating a card I chose to create an altered frame.  I wish that the glittery trees and snowbanks showed up in my photograph.  In addition to glitter I added tiny rhinestones to the trees.  The letters were cut with a Sizzix die. 

The bottle caps are 3 inch bottle caps from Maya Road. 

Thank you Julie and Hero Arts for the inspiration for this project.

Have a great day!
Carol

Stitched Christmas Card

Hi Everyone!

I just have time to post one card right now, but it's one I LOVE!  Here's a photograph of it.

Click on the photograph to enlarge it.  All of the papers are from Cosmo Cricket's "Material Girl" Mini Deck.  I ran the layering paper through a Cuttlebug Christmas Trees embossing folder.  I think that makes the background look like large buttons with trees in their center. 

I used one of my Bazzill Christmas In Stitch'z templates and paper pierced the green paper.  I used a backstitch to stitch the tree and then fussy cut it. 

Added a strip of American Crafts ribbon that has tiny spools of thread printed on it and then adhered the tree to the card.  The star is a Favorite Findings button.

I haven't decided which text I want to add to the card so for now it is textless!

Have a great day! 

Carol

'Tis the Season

Hi Everyone!

I am completely in Christmas mode.  I was even playing Christmas music while I was creating cards yesterday.  My confusion with the holiday continues as now Halloween is just a week away, but my entire work area says Christmas and the display on my mantle is being taken over by Christmas cards, bags, mini cards, and tags. 


'Tis the season for purchasing a Christmas tree.  I've had my eye on a stamp that has the image of a car with a Christmas tree on it, but decided it was an image I could create on my own since I own an adorable car stamp and a multitude of Christmas tree stamps.

The car on this card is from a set of clear stamps called "Boys and Their Toys" and the trees are from Hero Arts.  I started out by cutting a snowbank and gluing it on a piece of decorative paper that looks a little like snow to me.  Then I put some Scor-tape on the backside of a piece of ribbon and adhered it just above the snowbank to make it look like a road.  I think that the stitched white lines on the ribbon totally make it look just like a road. 


I stamped 3 car images onto 3 different scraps of solid tag, embossed and fussy cut them and glued them onto the road.  Then I stamped and fussy cut 3 trees and used foam tape to adhere them to the tops of the cars.  The text is from PaperTrey Ink's Think Big Favorites #8 clear stamp set.  That stamp has already become one of my favorites.


'Tis the season for baking cookies which happens to be one of my favorite holiday traditions.  I used a Sizzix die to cut out the cookie sheet and pancake turner on this card.  The gingerbread men are Favorite Findings buttons.  This is a very cute and very simple card to create. 

'Tis the season for mittens.  I've told you stories about the mittens my mother used to knit for all of us and with her in mind each year I create a variety of holiday cards that have a knitting or a mitten theme.  This time I stamped a mitten image onto 4 scraps of yellow tag.  Then I stamped the same image onto 4 other scraps of tag and fussy cut the mittens before I glued them to the yellow tag.  The paper I chose looks knitted to me.  This card is also a simple one to create.  The yellow squares are 1.25" and the red ones behind them are 1.5".

I have many more holiday cards to share with you, but that's it for today.

Have a great day! 
Carol

Christmas Cards

Good Morning Everyone!

Not sure where the time has been going lately.  I get up early every morning, blink, and it's time to go to bed again.  I have been busy creating Christmas cards and until now haven't stopped to photograph any of them. 

Here's one of my favorites.

I stamped a Memory Box Bramble Wreath wooden stamp onto a sheet of patterned paper.  Then I used a Martha Stewart holly paper punch and paper punched 8 double holly sprigs.  I used a Xyron tape runner to adhere them to the patterned paper.  The bow was punched from a Martha Stewart bow punch.  The text was created with a Hero Arts clear stamp.  The bookplate that frames the text was created with a Sizzix die.

I am happy with this card too.  First I ran a sheet of patterned tag through a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder.  I used Lawn Fawn's "Harold's ABCs" clear stamp set to create the text.  The moon was punched from a Marvy Uchida purple circle punch.  I stamped an Amuse Artstamps "Santa Silhouette" onto the moon. 

The houses were stamped with stamps from Paper Trey Ink's "Boards and Beams" clear stamp set.  I embossed them and cut them down so that just the rooftops were left.  Then I colored them in with markers. 

Here's one of the gift cards I made yesterday. 

The reindeer was stamped with a Memory Box "Lightbulb Reindeer" wooden stamp.  The tree was punched with a Martha Stewart paper punch and the text is from PaperTrey Ink.  I added tiny rhinestones to the reindeer's antlers and nose.  The stamped impression shows where the rhinestones could be placed.  I placed some 1/8" Scor-tape along the snowbanks and then pressed the tape into some white glitter.

That's it for today.  Hoping to have what I call a "Cookathon" today so that I can fill the freezer with some soups, stews, and spaghetti sauce.  First there's grocery shopping to get done.

Have a great day!

Carol



Christmas Mini Cards and Tags

Hi Everyone!

I haven't posted in 6 days which is unusual for me.  A fall cold wiped me out for a few days and I devoted any energy I had into creating crafts and cards for last Saturday's craft fair.   I met some fun crafters at the fair and told them that I have to stop and think about which holiday is approaching because I have been busy working on Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cards and crafts at the same time.  I didn't stop to photograph many of last week's creations, but I do have some Christmas mini cards and tags to share with you. 

The Christmas trees on these mini cards were made by overlapping 2 triangles that I punched from a Fiskars triangle squeeze punch. 

I used Stickles to create the garland on the first tree and rhinestones to create the ornaments on the second tree.

Here are some other tags I created using some stamps from my stash.

Going to sign off for today.  Will be back again tomorrow!

Have a good night! 

Carol







Wooden Spools Christmas Tree and Card

Hi Everyone!

A few days ago I shared a mitten altered frame that I created after seeing one in this year’s PaperCrafts special issue Holiday Cards & More magazine. Well, if that project didn’t convince you to buy a copy of the magazine maybe the project I am going to share with you today will.

There is the cutest wooden spool Christmas tree on the front cover of the magazine. It was designed by Courtney Kelley and is also shown on page 145 of the same magazine. I mentioned that I wanted some wooden spools so I could create a tree of my own and my dear sweet friend Diane showed up with some for me the other day. I should also mention that Diane also brought me a beautiful quilt that she made for me to use when I am sitting on our new couch. Thank you again Diane for the spools and for the amazing quilt that I will always treasure.

I looked through my container of patterned Christmas papers and found some scraps I could use on the spools. I used the 1/2" width of Scor-pal tape to wrap the papers around the spools. I used a hot glue gun to glue the spools together. I liked my tree when I had finished it, but felt it needed a little something extra. So I used some glue dots to adhere some holiday buttons to the spools. Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tree!

I wanted a gift card that coordinated with the spool tree so I stamped the spool from Lawn Fawn’s "Sew Lovely" clear stamp set repeatedly onto some white tag. I fussy cut the spools and wrapped some baker’s twine from The Twinery around each of them. I trimmed a scrap of SEI paper and adhered it to some solid tag that I had cut as a card. I stamped "merry Chrismas" from Lawn Fawn’s "Cozy Christmas" clear stamp set onto the layering paper and then adhered the twine covered paper spools to the paper and made them look like the wooden spool tree. The star at the top of the tree is a brad I had in my stash.

Have a great day!
Carol