Talking in Circles

Last month I purchased the Talking in Circles cardmaking kit from Taylored Expressions. The kit included dies to cut circles, half circles, and quarter circles, as well as preprinted card stock "maps" in A2 and mini slim card sizes. You can glue the die-cut pieces directly on the maps so you don't have to worry about getting everything perfectly aligned. Yay! When I sat down to play with the kit I had fun cutting a bunch of pieces from card stock scraps and creating several cards.

If you look at just the arrangement of the die-cut pieces on these two cards, without paying attention to the colors, you'll notice that they have the same layout. Using different colors of card stock creates totally different patterns!

These two cards also have the same layout, but for the card on the left the circles are composed of quarter-circle pieces. For the card on the right I didn't glue the circles onto the map because I wanted to have them on a different color background. I did use the map to lay them out, then I picked up the circles with Press and Seal, applied glue to the backs and adhered them to the gray card base.

I also tried making a few mini slim cards. For the card on the top, I die cut the word "celebrate" out of the middle of the glitter card stock that's layered behind the main panel. I drew a border around the focal layer on the bottom card because it seemed like it needed a little "something."

For my last two cards I decided to make something other than birthday cards. I want to try to send more cards "just because," and I think these fit the bill nicely.

Thanks for stopping by!

March Christmas cards: Holiday Blocks

For this month's Christmas cards I had fun with dies, specifically the Holiday Blocks die set by Tim Holtz (Sizzix).

The die set has twenty-seven pieces; twenty-three of them cut out shapes, and the other four cut detail designs into the card stock. I chose four colors of card stock -- Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Gumball Green, and Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!) -- cut each shape once from each color, and then started arranging the pieces. I challenged myself to use all the pieces, and I did -- no leftovers from this project!

Ultimately I assembled ten focal panels: six for A2-sized cards and four for note cards. In the process I discovered that I didn't like all four colors together, so I used three colors for each panel. I also used one or two of the detail pieces on each panel.

For the card bases I used Crumb Cake card stock splattered with Liquid White Snowflake Paper Splatter (Picket Fence Studios). (Two of the card bases are plain because I forgot to splatter them and didn't feel like getting the supplies back out again.) I stamped "holiday cheer" below the focal panel and finished each card with three clear sequins.

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Retro Swirls card set

Last year I shared two card sets made with the Retro Swirls A2 die (Erin Lee Creative): one rainbow and one with beachy colors. I recently needed to make a card set, and I decided to pull out this die again and try another color combo.

This time I used just three colors for the swirl -- a bright green, pool blue, and teal -- so each card has one color for the middle of the swirl and the other two colors above and below the middle. I also stamped the sentiments directly on the white card bases instead of die cutting them. I finished each card with three sequins, and then I made three more (with the same sentiments) to make a set of six cards.

So far I really like using this die to make card sets -- it's neutral, has a big visual impact, and looks cool with all different colors. That's a win for me!

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Waterfront masculine cards

Masculine cards can be a challenge to create, so I always appreciate new ideas. If you're like me, here are a couple of clean and simple masculine cards I created with the Waterfront stamp set (Stampin' Up!):

I used earth tones to create a mountain scene with several images from the stamp set. (I liked how the scene turned out, so I went ahead and made a second one.) I cut out the scenes with a stitched square die and then stamped each sentiment in the lower right corner. I adhered each panel near the top of a navy card base, leaving an equal border around the left, top, and right edges of the panel. To add a simple embellishment I wrapped a length of burlap trim around the front of each card base and secured it with two mini staples.

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Reverse birthday cards

A while back I got some old stamp sets from a friend who had received a bunch of stamping supplies from another friend. (Sharing is caring, especially with craft supplies!) One of the sets was a small set of Hero Arts wood-mounted stamps with bold, birthday images. The images are negative style -- when you ink the stamp, the image stays white and the background is colored. I decided to combine that stamp set with a line-art background stamp (also from Hero Arts) to make a couple of birthday cards. 

For the first card, I stamped the small images in black ink and then cut them out. Using ink cubes, I applied stripes of color to the background stamp and stamped it on white card stock. I used foam tape to add the focal images in a three-by-three square, added a few clear sequins, and adhered the panel to a black card base.

For the second card I used the same layout, but in reverse: I stamped the background in black and the small images in color. (With the ink cubes I applied two colors to each image.) I embellished the card with a few orange sequins and adhered the panel to a yellow card base.

Which style do you like better? Thanks for stopping by!