Birthday wishes card folder

A couple of months ago, my stamping friend, fellow Krafty Kat and Stampin' UP! upline, Miriam, showed me some card folders she had made, each containing matching cards and envelopes. I thought they were such a cute idea and that they would make wonderful Christmas gifts.

I had the great notion that I could make them themed - one for birthday cards, one for thank you cards, one for thinking of you cards, etc. Well, being the procrastinator that I am, when I finally got started on them, I quickly realized I was going to be lucky to get one folder set done for each person on my list, so there went that idea!

Over the next few posts, I'll show you all the ones I did, starting with the first one I made, when I still thought I'd be doing them by category. It contains four birthday cards, each with the same sentiment.

The first picture shows the folder cover. The ribbon goes through the folder to hold the cards in place, as shown in the next photo, and is tied with a bow to keep it closed up.

This is the open folder with the four cards held in place by the ribbon.

I stamped the focal image from each card on its coordinating envelope. I also decorated the inside of each card with strips of the patterned paper and card stock, but I won't bore you with all of those photos!

For each card there is the matted focal image, the matted patterned paper and the stamped sentiment, but each one is laid out a bit differently, using different Nestability dies.

All of the images were colored with Copic markers and each one was airbrushed while still in its Nestability die to give it a nice background and add the appearance of an additional mat. I was trying to keep them from being too thick so they would fit into the folders better. I did end up revising the folder template that Miriam had given me to deepen the spine and the pockets.

This was a fun project and I really liked how this whole set turned out. I only had one sheet of that beautiful patterned paper, so I'm not sure I will be able to duplicate these cards, but I will be able to create 'refill' cards using the same color scheme once these run out. Assuming the recipient liked them and lets me know when they have been used up, of course!

Card details:
Patterned paper: K&Company Ancestry.com Teal Floral & Newsprint Flat Paper
Card stock: Prism Island Mist Medium and Dark; Papertrey Ink Kraft
Stamps: Stampin' UP! Flores Suaves and Bloomin' Beautiful; Papertrey Ink Butterfly Kisses (sentiment)
Inks: Adirondack Mushroom, Stampin' UP! Baja Breeze
Misc.: Copic Markers (W1,E31, E37,E55,E57,G94,G29,G82,Y38,BG10,BG15,BG72); brads; Nestabilities

Merry Christmas!

This is the Christmas card I sent out this year. All the products are from Stampin' UP!, except for the Cuttlebug embossing folder, the pearls and the rhinestone. It was a fun card to make, but it turned out to be a lot of work to make 50 of them!

Tim's got the coffee made and some raucous Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas music playing so I'm off to wrap the last two gifts and start my Christmas day!

Hope you have a very merry Christmas and enjoy spending time with your loved ones!

Birthday wishes

OK, I'm running out of things to post....I'm trying to keep the holiday theme going, but I don't have any other holiday cards to share....until I post my Christmas card tomorrow. So here is a birthday card, with holiday colors, that I made earlier this month.

I made this card using the SC205 sketch from Splitcoast Stampers. The patterned paper is all from the BasicGrey Wassail 6x6 pad. The three packages image is from Lockhart Stamp Company - I thought it was a perfect image for the patterned paper with the packages. I colored it with Copic markers to match the paper. I used my colorless blender to make the dots in the background.

Another simple card, but I liked the color scheme and thought it was perfect for a December birthday. This could have just as easily been a Christmas card, if I'd used a different sentiment, of course.

Hope you're having a good week and that you are ready for the big guy in the red suit ;-) I still have a little gift wrapping to do, and one more gift to make and then I'm done and ready to enjoy the long weekend!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Card details:
Patterned paper: BasicGrey Wassail
Card stock: Papertrey Ink Kraft
Stamps: Lockhart Stamp Company Itty Bitty Three Packages; Papertrey Ink Butterfly Kisses (sentiment)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc.: Copic Markers; brads; Nestabilities

Christmas Wishes

I'm a bit strapped for things to post at the moment since I've been working on Christmas gifts and Christmas cards exclusively for the last couple of weeks and can't post those just yet. I'll have a lot to share after Christmas! I'm happy to say that I am finished with all of it and now just have a few little things to wrap up and put under the tree.

This is a quick card I made a while ago, but never posted. There's not much to it - the Santa was punched from the same paper I used for this card. I cut the two mat layers using my Nestabilities. I tied the satin ribbon around the flourish patterned background paper and added a bow above the circles - it looks a bit like a Christmas ornament, I think.

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great day!

Card details:
Patterned paper: Glitz Design - Kringle Santa and Kringle Flourish
Card stock: Stampin' UP!; Stardreams stationery
Stamp: Amuse Artstamps
Ink: Stampin' UP!

Winter bird

As soon as I saw the Winter Birds set from Inkadinkado, I had to have it - I think these birds are gorgeous and just wish I had been able to do more with them this season.

This is a I card I made to take to my massage therapist a couple of weeks ago for her to sell at her spa . Except for the bird stamp, everything on the card is from Stampin' UP!. The card is pretty self explanatory and not complicated, but I like the color combination.

I'm making progress on all my Christmas preparations, but still have more to do than I'd like. Today I am planning to gift wrap and pack up all the boxes for mailing, then it's back to the Christmas cards....

Hope your week is going well!

Card details:
Patterned paper: Stampin' UP! Ski Slope
Card stock: Stampin' UP! Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red
Stamp: Inkadinkado
Ink: Stampin' UP! Baja Breeze
Ribbon: Stampin' UP! Riding Hood Red

Merry Christmas dear friend....again...

Here's a quick little Christmas card I made using some coordinating papers from Frances Meyer and the Merry Christmas dear friend stamp I used on a previous card. The ribbon is from Stampin' UP!.

I'm still way behind on all my Christmas preparations, so I'm taking some time off from work this week to get finished up in time to put everything in the mail. Hope you're in better shape for your Christmas preparations than I am!

Sorry, this is just a quick post to let you know I'm still alive! Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Card details:
Patterned papers: Frances Meyer
Cardstock: Stampin' UP!; Papertrey Ink Kraft
Ribbon: Stampin' UP!
Stamp: Stampin' UP!
Ink: Stampin' UP! Riding Hood Red

From the guy with the red suit

Here's another all-Stampin' UP! Christmas card that I made last week. The patterned paper is from the Ski Slope pack. I stamped the Santa image using Riding Hood Red ink and cut it and its mat with my Nestabilities.

I layered 3 Stampin' UP! felt snowflakes and put a silver snowflake brad through the center. For the blue snowflake, I added some new blue glitter I picked up a couple of weeks ago, when I took my husband with me to see Scrap Chic Boutique's new shop. While I was chatting with the owners, he was looking around and picked up this container of glitter and insisted on getting it for me. He always likes it when there is a bit of glitter on my cards, so he has been dubbed 'the glitter king'. Unfortunately, I think I got more of it on me and around my stamp room than I did on the snowflake!

This is obviously a pretty simple card, but it was nice to get a few done fairly quickly.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you're having a good week!

Card Details:
Patterned paper: Stampin' UP!
Stamps: Stampin' UP!
Ink: Stampin' UP! Riding Hood Red
Snowflakes: Stampin' UP!
Ribbon: Stampin' UP! Riding Hood Red
Misc.: Brad - JoAnn's; glitter - Powder Keg

Merry Christmas, dear friend

This card is a Stampin' UP! only card, which I think is a first for me so far. I really like the Ski Slope papers, so I've made a few cards with them this week. My massage therapist sells some of my cards at her spa and I needed to get a few Christmas cards ready to take to her when I go for my appointment tomorrow. I also used the sketch challenge from this week's card sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers.

There isn't much to this card - I layered the three strips of patterned paper on top of another layer of patterned paper - too busy, maybe? I wrapped a bit of brown felt ribbon around the bottom of the middle strip.

Next, I stamped the Merry Christmas stamp from the Curly Label set twice, once in Old Olive and once in Riding Hood Red. I cut the sentiment from the Riding Hood Red version and popped it up with some foam tape on top of the Old Olive version, which I had cut out with the curly label punch. The panel was added to the card with some foam tape under the bottom so it rests flat against the ribbon.

I layered three of the felt snowflakes and stuck a rhinestone brad through the center for a little sparkle. I then adhered it all to a white card base.

Hope you've had a good week - mine has been busy and somewhat productive but I'm still ridiculously far behind...

Card details:
Patterned paper: Stampin' UP! Ski Slope
Stamp: Stampin' UP! Curly label punch set
Ink: Stampin' UP! Old Olive and Riding Hood Red
Misc. : Curly label punch; felt snowflakes and felt ribbon - Stampin' UP!

Snowmen fall...

I can't believe it's December already. I'm so behind on my Christmas cards, shopping, etc. Every year it's the same thing - I think I have so much time and then all of a sudden I'm in a panic because I've procrastinated and suddenly Christmas is right around the corner! So, forgive me if I'm a little spotty in my posting for a while as I try to get some things done.

This card is for Repeat Impressions. The main image is the Tiny Twig Hair Snowman, which I stamped three times - one just looked too lonely! I had some little 'snowballs' that I decided to use to make it look like my little snowmen are in the middle of a snowball fight. Their scarves are Liquid Pearls and their noses are orange Stickles. I went over the outline of the snowmen with my silver Copic Spica glitter pen. The image and its mat were cut out using my new Labels One Nestabilities - this is my favorite of the new shapes.

The red and white striped twine is from Martha Stewart and the bow has a snowflake brad in the center of it. The background paper is from the Stampin' UP! Ski Slope collection.

Hope those of you in the US had a nice Thanksgiving weekend! Happy December and thanks for looking!

Card Details:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions: 2016-D, Tiny Twig Hair Snowman, 4601-H, Snowmen fall...

Patterned Paper: Stampin' UP! Ski Slope

Card stock: Stampin' UP! Old Olive, Riding Hood Red

Ink: Memento Cottage Ivy, London Fog

Misc.: Martha Stewart twine; Ranger Stickles, Liquid Pearls; Snowflake brad; Copic Spica glitter pen; Nestabilities

Thank you pumpkins

I made this card using the sketch for this week's SC204 sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. I also took the opportunity to play with my new Labels Two Nestability dies. The Pumpkins in Wheelbarrow image is from Lockhart Stamp Company and was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with my Copic markers. I added some Spica glitter in gold and green on the pumpkins and the grass. The pumpkins and the mat were both popped up with foam tape.

The paper is all from Stampin' UP!, except for the card base, which is my ever-favorite Papertrey Ink Kraft. The sentiment is from Stampendous and I added a few dew drops in the corner to balance it out. Not much to it, but I like the color scheme. And look, Jenny, I've got NINE layers on this one (counting the card base)!

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Card Details:
Patterned Paper: Stampin' UP! Haiku
Card stock: Papertrey Ink Kraft; Stampin' UP! - Tangerine Tango, More Mustard, Old Olive and So Saffron
Ink: Stampin' UP! Old Olive
Stamps: Lockhart Stamp Company; Stampendous
Other: Nestabilities; Dew Drops; Copic and Copic Spica markers

For the birds....

There are a lot of birds in this photo considering the image, the brad and the watermark! And yes, I know it's Fall, and this is a pretty 'Spring-y' card, but it's an image I needed to make a card with for Repeat Impressions, so there you have it.

I used the sketch from Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge, except I rotated it to be vertical rather than horizontal. The image was colored with Copic markers to match the background paper, and cut out with my new Curved Rectangle Nestabilities. I added some gold Spica glitter to the flower centers and a little green Spica glitter to the leaves for some sparkle.

The flowers and brad, which I think is very similar to the bird image, are my round element, and I balanced that in the other three corners with Dew Drops. That's it for this one - pretty easy, but a nice sketch that I'm sure I'll use again.

I'm glad it's Wednesday and the week is almost over! I'm really looking forward to the long weekend and some time with family and friends, as well as some time in my stamp room.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Card Details:
Patterned Paper: BasicGrey Urban Prairie
Stamp: Repeat Impressions
Flowers: KaiserCraft
Brad: K&Company
Markers: Copic and Spica glitter
Other: Nestabilities; Dew Drops - The Robin's Nest

Blog candy, awards AND a card!

Yesterday was a fun and interesting day! First, I received my first-ever package of blog candy from my blogging friend Pat for her blogoversary. I NEVER win anything, so this was a really fun treat! It was chock full of goodies - two stamp sets, a K&Company Hannah 6x6 paper pack, a package of glitter snowflakes, two spools of Christmas ribbon and four sleeves of self adhesive gems! And there was also a lovely Holiday Greetings card made with elements from Stampin' UP!'s Ski Slope paper pack, felt flurries and Snow Swirled stamp set. Such a nice assortment! Thanks, Pat!

Second, I received my first-ever blog award. I have to admit that I was not familiar with this particular award, but I was touched to receive it from the very sweet Heather and by its sentiment:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

So, now the hard part - picking eight blogging friends to pass it to. There are many blogs that I read, but I don't really 'know' the people who write them. The following are people I have met through the card making/blogging world, and who have become either real or cyber friends as a result, so the sentiment for the award seems to fit:

Pat
Julie
Janine
Jenny
Marcy
Susan
Sandy
Michelle


OK, on to a card! I've been working on a few Christmas cards lately, so here is one of them. I used my new Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder to do the background, then I rubbed red and gold metallic rub ons over the raised snowflakes and I rubbed the edges with the gold. I added some of the new Distress Stickles to some of the snowflakes.

The 'O Christmas tree' image was stamped with Memento Cottage Ivy and matted with green card stock. I ran my gold Spica glitter pen around the border to give it a little sparkle.

The ribbon is from Stampin'UP! and the card base is my favorite Papertrey Ink Kraft.

That's about it for this one. Hope you're having a good week!


Card Details:
Stamp: Repeat Impressions
Paper: Papertrey Ink Kraft; Stamper's Anonymous matte white
Ribbon: Stampin' UP!
Other: Metallic Rub ons; Distress Stickles; Copic Spica glitter pen

Cats are children in fur coats

This is an imageI have needed to use for a while, but have put off because coloring fur on a big cat image like this is a bit daunting to me. The image is one that Wendy at Repeat Impressions drew of one of her cats and I was afraid I wouldn't do him justice. The image was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and I colored him with my Copic markers. The image was stamped with StazOn Timber Brown and the background of the tag was airbrushed with a couple of the same Copic markers I used to color the cat. I also airbrushed the plain twill ribbon to match.

The patterned paper is from the Stampin' UP! Autumn Vine collection. I selected it because it reminded me of cat paw prints. The card base is Stampin' UP! More Mustard and the mats are Chocolate Chip and Really Rust. A nice collection of fall colors, I think. The kitty face brad on the ribbon is from Around the Block. Finally, I paper pierced three of the corners to fill in the white space.

That's about it for this card - the hardest part was just motivating myself to start coloring! Hope you had a nice weekend and hope those of you working folks like me have a nice, short work week this week!

Card Details:
Patterned Paper: Stampin' UP! Autumn Vine
Card stock: Stampin' UP! Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard
Twill ribbon: Stampin' UP!
Brad: Around the Block
Ink: Memento, StazOn
Markers: Copic

When a man loves a woman...

This card was made for a friend who was recently married. At this stage of my life, I don't have many opportunities to do wedding cards, so this was fun. It also provided me with a great opportunity to play with a few new things. The first piece of the card was actually the bow. I saw Becca's tutorial on making a bow and threading the ribbon through the back of it and wanted to try that out. I had just purchased this beautiful double sided satin ribbon, so I used that. The pointed tails of the ribbon are cut off in the photo, unfortunately.

The other new toy I had recently purchased was the Cuttlebug folder I used to emboss the white background paper. I really like the pattern and it seemed perfect for a wedding card.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've owned this stamp set from Gina K. Designs for quite some time, but it had never met up with an ink pad, so this gave me an opportunity to use it. The wedding couple stamp really makes a nice, clean impression.

Finally, I pulled out my Copic airbrush with my new compressor (a birthday present from my hubby - thanks, honey!!) and masked the image of the couple so I could airbrush the background. It was really hard to get a good photograph of this card and show the contrast between the gray and the white, but it looks really nice in person!

I used my ticket corner punch to notch out the corners of the embossed white paper and placed some KaiserCraft pearls in the corners. That's about it for this one!

Tom and Helen, I wish you a long and HAPPY life together!

Thanks for looking!

Card details:

Paper: Stamper's Anonymous Matte Postcard; Stardreams Stationery

Stamps: Gina K. Designs

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Misc.: ribbon, Kaisercraft Bliss pearls, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Copic Markers and airbrush system

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge and Tim Holtz Mask

This card was made using the sketch for Friday's Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. I needed to make a card using the Tim Holtz Flourish mask, so I used it to make the background for this card.

I thought I was being really clever when I pulled the mask off its original sheet, which is the mask material adhered to a transparency. There was a lot of unused area around the flourish, so I decided to try cutting my own mask in that space. I ran four different Spellbinder's dies through my Wizard three separate times and it still didn't cut through completely. I used a craft knife to finish off the cuts, which didn't work too well on one of the shapes and I ended up throwing it away.

I used the three remaining 'masks' to make my three elements on the left side of the card instead of the squares that were called for in the sketch. As you can see by the top flourish, the adhesive on my 'homemade' masks wasn't nearly as strong as it was on the real mask on the right side, so some of my ink ended up under the mask. Oh well, live and learn. I hate wasting things, but in this case, it just wasn't usable. I threw the makeshift masks away as soon as I finished this card!

The real mask, on the other hand, works great and was fun to use. I sponged two different shades of Distress inks over the masks to give that vintage look. The Santa postage stamp image was also stamped with Distress Ink and cut out with my postage stamp decoritive edged scisors. The edges of all the layers were sponged with Distress Inks. I topped the card off with that fun reindeer ribbon - I don't know who makes it, but I love it and only have two reindeer left!

Hope you've had a great weekend. I managed to make six cards, which is a lot for me, so it's been a good one for me! Thanks for looking.

Card Details:
Card stock: Papertrey Ink Kraft
Patterned paper: The Paper Studio - holly; red check - unknown
Stamp: The Paper Source
Ink: Ranger Distress - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo
Misc.: ribbon, decorative edge scissors, Tim Holtz Flourish Mask