Craft weekend: Day 4

The last day of craft weekend was about finishing things — leftovers and projects. I made 17 more cards with the Chilling with My Homies 6x6 paper pad and used it all up, except for some tiny scraps. I ended up with 34 cards total from that paper pad. So with the 24 cards I made with the Simple Vintage Flannel paper pad, I made a grand total of 58 cards this weekend. Yay! And here they are:

I’ll do separate posts with close-up pictures later this week. I’m excited that I have these cards done now, because I have plenty of time to write messages in them before I have to drop them off at the organization that will send them off to seniors.

And that’s a wrap on craft weekend 2025. I didn’t have time to make any Halloween cards this weekend, but that’s ok. Maybe I’ll challenge myself to use some Halloween stamps for another type of card. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft weekend: Day 3

Today was a cooler, dreary day — the perfect weather for staying in to craft! I’m still making winter cards. I finished up most of the paper pad I was using yesterday (minus a few scraps and pieces of ephemera, which I gave to Lisa because, honestly, I was getting tired of them) and then moved on to my next pack of patterned paper: Chilling with My Snowmies from Echo Park. 

I didn’t buy any coordinating ephemera for this paper, since I bought the dies and could make my own images. And I think they’re looking pretty cute on the cards! 

For dinner we had butternut squash ravioli and zucchini. Now we’re relaxing, watching a new Hallmark Christmas movie, and having popcorn. I might make a few more Christmas cards tonight, and I’ll finish them up tomorrow. If I have time I might make a couple Halloween cards, too, which I haven’t had a chance to do this fall.

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft weekend: Day 2

The second day of craft weekend started with an outing. It was a gorgeous fall day, with clear blue sky, colorful leaves, and plenty of sunshine. (I’m really enjoying the cooler weather after the summer-like heat and humidity we had a few weeks ago.)

We walked to a nearby vintage store to do some crafty treasure hunting. The store had a little of everything, and we probably could have browsed all day. I bought two vintage postcards, which I’ll probably turn into cards, some old piano music for cards/mixed media projects, and a vintage-inspired tulip poster. I’m not sure if I’ll keep the poster as is or cut out the different flowers for cards.

We stopped for lunch after shopping and then walked back to Lisa’s to get crafting. I worked on making winter cards for seniors with some paper and ephemera from the Simple Vintage Flannel Season line by Simple Stories. (All the die cuts from yesterday will be put to use tomorrow.) I’ve made almost twenty cards today, but I really want to finish up the paper pad so I’m going to keep going. But I figured I should do my blog post before it got too late.

I’ll do a post showing all the cards once everything is finished. For dinner tonight, Lisa made salad and gnocchi, and we had banana bread and tea for dessert. Yum!

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Craft weekend: Day 1

It’s time for the annual craft weekend at my friend Lisa’s, and I decided to do a little blog post at the end of each day. We started our weekend this afternoon, and I worked on die cutting pieces for some winter-themed cards for seniors. I had purchased a pack of paper and coordinating dies from Echo Park — the dies are adorable, but they have so many tiny pieces. I figured if I started with cutting and assembling a whole bunch of pieces, then I’d have a collection of images ready to go for cards.

I grouped the dies by color and taped them together so I didn’t lose any and they were a little easier to work with.

Penguin pieces are on the left, trees in the middle, and snowmen on the right. So many teeny, tiny pieces.

Here is everything finished: six penguins and eighteen trees and snowmen. I used card stock colors to coordinate with the patterned paper. Even though they were challenging — especially the penguins’ eyes, beaks, and feet — they went together faster than I thought they would.

That was all my crafting for the day. We had shrimp scampi for dinner and belated birthday treats for dessert (pumpkin cheesecake for Lisa and a Reese’s chocolate-peanut butter cupcake for me) while we watched Hallmark Christmas movies. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Andrea

I’m still here!

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I posted. And It’s been a crazy month. In September we had a contractor re-finish our basement. It was finished when we bought the house, but the following spring we started having issues with a lot of water in the basement and we had to tear out a bunch of stuff. We finally fixed those problems (we hope for good!) in August so we could redo the basement. I’m planning to move my craft room down there, and we’ll also have space for doing games and puzzles and hopefully a little storage. Of course we have to move furniture and things back downstairs, and I’m not exactly sure when that will happen because now we’re in the middle of our family birthday month. Whew.

All that to say I haven’t been doing much crafting lately, so I haven’t had anything to post. But this weekend is the annual craft weekend with my friend Lisa, so I hope to have some things to share next week. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of our “new” basement. I’ll share more photos when we have everything set up.

The area one the right is a hallway/storage area that goes to our utility room. It’s just a concrete floor, but when the painter added some flecks of color to the paint. It’s sparkly!

When we moved all the furniture upstairs, this chair didn’t fit through the back door unless we took off the door. (We had to move everything up the stairs, out the back door, around the house and then back in the front door.). So we decided this chair (covered to keep off the construction dust) will just live downstairs.

We do still need to finish the stairs. We have to choose carpet and get it installed. But since they’re usable as is, we didn’t worry about finishing that right away.

We’re really happy with how everything turned out. The basement is definitely the nicest room in our house now. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Andrea

Fall cards for seniors

For many years I've made financial donations to a local organization that works to promote connection and meaningful relationships for older adults. Recently I learned that they have a program called Cards Connect -- individuals make cards and send/bring them to the organization, which then mails them to seniors around the state. They collect cards four times per year, and the donation deadline for fall cards happened to be a few weeks away. I pulled out some autumn-themed stamps, dies, and patterned paper and started creating.

The organization requested that the cards be fairly flat for mailing purposes, so I didn't add the dimension I usually would. I limited my embellishments to flat sequins and tried to add interest with textured or shimmery paper or a bit of splatter.

I created a total of twenty cards to donate this time. I made multiples of a few designs, but I also created some unique cards by using up bits and pieces that I've had sitting around for years (like the die-cut frames and the panel with the Emily Bronte quote).

Inside the cards I wrote a simple uplifting message with a couple of sentences about autumn. I also included a seasonal "dad joke" in each card for a little fun.

I'm hoping to make many more cards for the next round, which will be winter (not holiday-specific). I've already bought some cute patterned paper and coordinating ephemera so I can get a head start. Maybe I'll be able to finish some for my September Christmas cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spectrum Gardenia

With my craft room temporarily out of commission, I decided to make some cards at the dining room table with minimal supplies. I dug out the necessary tools (glue, scissors, etc.), white card stock, some pre-folded card bases, basic embellishments, and a few sentiment stamp sets. For the “meat” of the cards I used a few products from the Spectrum Gardenia collection (49 and Market): 12” x 12” card stock, ephemera, and washi tape. These are traditionally scrapbooking products, so some of the items are tricky to use on cards, but I did my best. I also found a few odds and ends that I’d made and never used that ended up working for these cards.

There you have it! Did you catch the upside-down card in the last photo? I promise I made the card the right way; I just goofed up the picture. Ha ha!

I’ll admit that I used more supplies than I originally intended. I kept thinking of the perfect punch or twine or what have you and had to wade through the craft room to find it. But I’m happy with how the cards turned out, so the extra effort was worth it.

As a little back-to-school surprise, I brought all these cards to the school where I work for the teachers and staff to use. Sharing is caring. :) Thanks for stopping by!

'Seas' the day

In my last couple of posts I've shared cards I made after creating a variety of colorful card stock panels with Distress Oxide inks. On some of the cards I used the Distress Oxide panels as backgrounds, and on others I used the panels to die cut images. On today's cards, I did both. These also happen to be my favorite cards of the bunch.

On the mermaid card the background is one of the Distress Oxide panels, embossed with an underwater-themed embossing folder and then spritzed with a shimmer mist. I stamped the mermaid tail on another panel and then die cut it, along with a few tiny seashells. I used other Distress Oxide panels to die cut some coral, and I also used those panels to cut out larger layered seashells for two other cards (the white card above and one further down this post).

The mermaid tail needed some sparkle, so I used a Stardust Gelly Roll to color some of the scales and to add lines on the fluke. I finished the card by adding a sentiment (also stamped on a piece of Distress Oxide panel for perfect coordination) and a handful of sequins.

For the second card, I went more clean and simple. I spritzed a white card base with shimmer mist and adhered a die-cut white fishing net on top. I used three of the die-cut layered seashells and adhered them to the card with foam tape. When I cut out the seashells, I used different areas of the Distress Oxide panel (e.g., darker areas or places where one color was more prominent) for the different layers, which I think adds a lot of depth and realism. I finished this card with a sentiment and a few pearls.

The third card is kind of a mix of the first two: I focused on the seashells, like the second card, but also embossed the background, like the first one. (The embossing folder is technically going sideways on this card, but I don't think it matters too much. It still evokes the feeling and movement of water.)

I also spritzed this card with shimmer mist -- it reminds me of the sun sparkling on water. I finished this card with a sentiment and a few pearls.

My craft room is still out of commission while we're working on the basement. But I've moved some supplies to the dining room table so I can still do a bit of card making. I'll probably be posting just once a week for a while since I won't have as many cards to share. Thanks for stopping by!

Wild and precious life

Today I've got a quick post to share another card featuring Distress Oxide inks. In my last post I mentioned that I had made several panels using Distress Oxide inks, and I shared a couple of cards where I used the panels as backgrounds. This time I used the panels for the die-cut images on the card.

I love this quote from Mary Oliver, and I think it's perfect for a birthday card. I also like to pair it with images from nature, and this time I chose a dragonfly and leaves.

The pink/purple Distress Oxide panel seemed perfect for a dragonfly. This dragonfly is from a Tim Holtz die set, and it has three layers. Normally I would cut each layer from a different color, but in this instance I cut them all from the same panel. You do get some natural color variation, but the different layers don't stand out as much. For the leaves, which are also layered, I cut the outlines from a part of the panel that was slightly darker, and the backing layer is a little lighter.

For the card base I used Crumb Cake card stock stamped with the Circular Grid Bold Prints stamp from Hero Arts. It reminds me of the rings of a tree. The leaves are glued directly to the card base, and the sentiment piece and dragonfly are adhered with foam tape. I finished the card with a few clear droplets.

I will have one more post featuring the Distress Oxide panels I created, so stay tuned (spoiler alert: there will be an underwater/beach theme). Thanks for stopping by!

Backgrounds with Distress Oxide inks

I've been wanting to do more with my Distress Oxide inks lately. So I bought a few more colors to add to my collection, I stamped some swatch cards, and of course, best of all, I spent some time playing. I cut a couple sheets of white card stock into quarters and experimented by blending the inks on the card stock and also by "smooshing" the ink -- applying ink to my glass mat, spritzing with water, and then placing the paper in the wet ink to pick up the color. After the panels were dry, I got to work making cards. Today I'm sharing two of the finished cards; I'll share the others in future posts.

Note: I just realized I didn't make any supply notes for these cards, so I don't have specific product names. If you have questions about the supplies I used, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to get the info for you.

With both of these cards, I used the Distress Oxide panels as card backgrounds. For the first card (left) I used blues and purples with the ink smooshing technique. I think I overworked the background a little because the colors are more blended together than I intended. But it's still pretty! I applied light blue stencil butter through a butterfly stencil to add the focal images. When that was dry I stamped the Xs along the right and left edges and attached the panel to a black card base. I added a black die-cut "celebrate" for the sentiment and finished the card with a few sparkling clear sequins.

For the second card I applied the Distress Oxide inks on the card stock using bending tools. I don't do a lot of ink blending, so I'm not very good at getting a seamless transition between colors. Oh, well. After I did the blending, I spritzed the panel with water, let that dry, and then used the same ink colors to stamp a few doodle-type images. Then I stamped some other images and small words using black ink. Finally I used a clear paste and a stencil to add some subtle texture.

When everything was dry, I added a die-cut circular "wish" sentiment and adhered the panel to a black card base. Again, I finished the card with a few sparkling clear sequins. I really like how all the different elements of this card came together.

Thanks for stopping by!

August Christmas cards: Gel print kit

I didn't think I was going to be able to make any Christmas cards this month. We are doing some work on our house, so my craft room is filled with boxes of random stuff, and I can barely get in the room. But as luck would have it, I entered a drawing on Instagram and won a Christmas card gel printing kit from Gelli Arts. Almost everything I needed was included in the kit -- even a gel plate, brayer, and some paint. I just needed my scissors/trimmer and adhesive. I sat down to create at the coffee table, and here are my finished cards:

The kit was designed to make two cards and ornaments (the white card bases in the top row). I love the idea of including an ornament right on the card! I added a few extra card bases and twine so I could make five cards total. And of course I had to add a few sequins on the tree ornaments. :) I'm still debating if I should add some sparkle to the star ornaments. Maybe I'll take them off the cards and add some spatter. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Using up some scraps

After I made my January Christmas cards, I had a bunch of skinny strips leftover from the alcohol ink panels. I don't usually save those tiny strips, but these were too pretty to just toss. Instead I used a double-sided adhesive sheet, lined up the strips, and created a couple of striped panels. I finally turned those panels into two birthday cards:

One of the striped panels was almost the size of an A2 card so I used it as a background (card on the left). I cut the Birthday Message Cover Plate die (Hero Arts) out of holographic card stock, adhered it over the background and attached it to a white card base.

I used foam tape to add a sentiment strip near the bottom of the card front. Then I finished off the card with several blue rhinestones clustered around the sentiment strip.

For the second striped panel, which was smaller than the first, I die cut two large butterflies using the Detailed Butterflies, Mini dies (Sizzix - Tim Holtz). I cut the outlines for those butterflies out of black card stock and glued the layers together. I also cut out some tiny butterflies using the Intricate Mini Butterflies die (Memory Box). I arranged the butterflies around the stamped sentiment on a light purple card base and adhered them using liquid glue (and foam tape behind the wings of the large butterflies). I added a strip of the alcohol ink panel and a twine bow toward the bottom of the card front and finished with a cascade of droplets.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blue birthdays

I am always in need of more birthday cards. I try to keep a good-sized stash on hand so I can choose a card that fits the recipient. So when I sat down to turn some backgrounds into cards, I knew birthday cards were the way to go.

For the cards I'm sharing today, both of the backgrounds were foiled using stencils from The Crafter's Workshop along with Transfer Gel Duo and Deco Foil from Therm O Web. 

To coordinate with the green numbers on this background, I die cut three balloons using two different shades of green card stock. I taped a piece of white crochet thread to the back of each balloon and then attached the balloons to the panel. I wrapped each piece of string to the back of the panel and secured them before adhering the panel to a white card base. I used a white paint pen to add details to the balloons and finished the card with a sentiment strip and blue rhinestones. I had the perfect sentiment for inside the card: "Age is just a number (in your case a really high one)." 

The foil on this panel is pearlescent, so I chose light blue foil card stock for the accents. I used the A2 Thin Frame Cover Plate die (Taylored Expressions) to cut out the frame and the Big Birthday die (Honey Bee Stamps) for the sentiment. I cut the shadow die for the sentiment out of vellum to help it stand out a little more. The panel is adhered to a white card base, and I decided to skip the embellishments because there's already a lot of shine happening on this card.

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Gel print strip backgrounds

When I was looking through my collection of gel prints I found four background pieces made with gel prints cut into strips and adhered to double-sided adhesive sheets. (They're similar to the crazy quilt scrap papers I shared in the past.) I decided they would make a good card set, and here are the results:

I think my favorite thing about these cards is that I used navy card stock instead of black for the mats and die cuts. I know it looks black in the photos, but in person the dark blue looks so good with the colors in the gel prints. I need to remember to use navy as a neutral more often. 

The backgrounds were in two arrangements -- horizontal stripes and diagonal stripes -- so I used two different layouts for my cards. For the cards with horizontal stripes, I used a tall branch die cut and short two-word phrases for the sentiments. The strips were useful in making sure I adhered the sentiments straight. I die cut each piece twice and glued them together to give them a little more "oomph." (All the dies I used for these cards are from the retired Well Written die set from Stampin' Up!)  

I struggled with the layout for the cards with diagonal stripes. I played around with the pieces for awhile and finally settled on this arrangement. I placed a curly-style branch in the lower left and upper right corners and added the sentiments at an angle near the middle of the panels. I finished all of the cards with three sequins grouped around the sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by!