January 2016 Paper Pumpkin: Alternate project

When I saw the Paper Pumpkin kit for January, I knew it would be perfect to use for some of the Valentine's Day cards I'm going to donate to Meals on Wheels. Here are the completed cards:

I used two die-cut hearts for each card, so I was able to make fifteen cards. I thought about using just one heart per card and adhering them to card stock card bases, but I wanted to limit my supplies. I used the die-cut pennants, twine and sequins to embellish the cards, and I have quite a bit of the twine and sequins leftover. I also didn't use the clothespins, so I saved those for another project.

To attach the hearts together to make the card bases, I placed two hearts back-to-back and then made a score line about 3/4" away from the left side. I placed adhesive on one of the hearts between the score line and the edge and then adhered the hearts together. When I added the pennants I just made sure to place them to the right of the score line so they didn't get bent or keep the card from opening.

I think the only supply I needed other than those in the kit was additional Glue Dots. The kit comes with fifty Glue Dots, but I used four on each card (three sequins and a bow), which comes out to sixty total. Or you could use a liquid glue instead. I also happened to have a pack of 5" x 5" envelopes, which were the perfect size for these cards. I used a small heart punch on the leftover paper from the kit to make a whole pile of small paper hearts, and I glued a few hearts on the back of each envelope so they coordinate with the cards.

That's one batch of valentines done. I still want to make a lot more this week, but I've got a good start. Thanks for stopping by!

Stuck on you

I'm back for my second post this week. Woohoo! Last weekend I started working on my Valentine's Day cards. Since I'm planning to make a batch of cards to donate to Meals on Wheels again this year -- and I need to send my own cards to friends and family -- I'm focusing on quick and cute designs. Here is the first card I designed:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Stuck on You (Lawn Fawn)
Paper: 110-lb white card stock (Recollections), Whisper White card stock
Ink: Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Cajun Craze, Watermelon Wonder
Accessories: Stuck on You Lawn Cuts dies (Lawn Fawn), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, Glue Dots

I love this one-layer non-traditional Valentine's Day card. The colors make me think of spring (or at least a place that's warmer than the Midwest in winter), and while there are flowers on the card, it's not really feminine. Plus it could be used for a quick "love you" note any time of the year.

I guess-timated on the spacing for the stamped images. I started with the cactus in the middle and then added the pot on either side. I stamped the rest of the images and adhered a die-cut flower to the cactus. I couldn't resist adding a tiny bit of sparkle, so I painted over the stamped pots with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen. Finally, I rounded the bottom two corners of the card base and stamped a couple of coordinating images on the envelope.

I actually have an entire work-free weekend coming up, and I'm hoping to make a big dent in my card-making. With any luck I'll have some new cards to share with you next week. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Mini treat bag cards

I've had the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits dies for quite awhile now, but I haven't spent much time playing with them. I love that the bags are small enough to fit inside an A2-sized envelope -- what a fun way to present a quick note to a friend. So last weekend I decided to use the dies to make a couple of cute all-occasion cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack, Pacific Point and Very Vanilla card stock
Accessories: Mini Treat Bag Thinlits dies, Pacific Point stitched grosgrain ribbon, Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, silver baker's twine, silver sequin trim, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), 1/8" hole punch, Fine-Tip Glue Pen

I used a lot of the same supplies for both cards, and this one is the simpler of the two. The Pretty Petals 6" x 6" DSP stack worked perfectly for the mini treat bag; each bag uses one and a half sheets of DSP, so with three sheets I was able to make two bags. For this bag I added just a few embellishments: a die-cut bow and three silver sequins in the lower right corner.

The card inside the treat bag is 3-1/2" x 4-1/2". I rounded the corners and adhered a narrow strip of DSP (left over from making the bag) along the bottom edge. I punched a hole in the top of the card and added some Pacific Point and Old Olive ribbon, secured with a silver baker's twine bow. For a little more silver I added three sequins in the lower left corner.

I left my card blank so I would have plenty of room to write a note, but you also could stamp any desired sentiment on the card front and write on the back.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Pretty Petals DSP Stack, Pacific Point, Old Olive, Very Vanilla card stock; silver foil sheets
Accessories: Mini Treat Bag Thinlits dies, Decorative Dots embossing folder, Scripty Hello Lawn Cuts die (Lawn Fawn), metallic foil doilies, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, 1/8" silver ribbon, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), Fine-Tip Glue Pen

This treat bag is a little fancier, but still pretty easy to make. This time to embellish the mini treat bag I started with a strip of Pacific Point card stock that was 1-1/4" x 8-1/2". I folded the strip in half and used the pennant-shaped die from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set to make the pointed ends. (With the strip folded in half I held the die together with the card stock and used a scissors to trim along the edge of the die.) Then I embossed the strip with the Decorative Dots embossing folder. I embossed one half of the strip then flipped the card stock around and embossed the other half. (I just made sure not to use a design that had a specific direction; otherwise half of the design would be embossed upside-down.)

After embossing the Pacific Point strip I punched a piece of Old Olive card stock with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch. I cut the strip in half length-wise and adhered each piece along the edges of half of the blue strip so that the scallops just peek out. I glued half of a silver doily to the front of the treat bag and adhered the strip around the bag so it covered the top edge of the doily. The pointed ends stick out past the right edge of the bag, but it will still fit in an A2 envelope. Finally I added a silver die-cut "hello" to the embossed strip.

The inside card for this version is still pretty basic -- plenty of room to stamp and/or write. Again I added a narrow strip of DSP along the bottom edge of the card, this time with a piece of silver ribbon. To make the tab on the top, I used the pennant-shaped die and cut out a piece of Pacific Point card stock. I folded the pennant in half and stapled it to the top of the card.


Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday buddies

I realized recently that my stash of birthday cards is getting pretty low, so I need to get busy and refill it. Here's a quick and cute one to get started:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Three Amigos (Mama Elephant)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Basic Black card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Smoky Slate, Crushed Curry, Basic Gray, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Small and large oval punches, White Perfect Accents, Beach House washi tape, All Is Calm washi tape, Dimensionals

I think these three little buddies are adorable, and I love that you can stamp different sentiments on their signs. I think they'd be really cute paper-pieced with patterned paper, but for this card I colored them in with markers and then cut them out. I punched out Basic Black ovals and glued them to the animals to look like shadows and then used Dimensionals to adhere the pieces to the white card base. I struggled with the embellishments and finally decided to keep it pretty neutral with two different colors of washi tape and a few white enamel dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

A happy snowman

I was hoping to post this last Christmas card earlier in the week, but I've been under the weather since Christmas Eve and when I wasn't at work I didn't have the energy to do much else besides lie on the couch. But I'm finally starting to feel like a normal human being, so without further ado here is my final -- and favorite -- Christmas card design from 2015:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: KB's Heart Looking Up (Endless Creations)
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White card stock, All Is Calm Designer Series Paper (DSP), Brights DSP Stack
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Real Red marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Project Life journaling pens, Clear Stardust Gelly Roll pen (Sakura)
Accessories: Snowflake Elements, rhinestones, Fine-Tip Glue Pen


I love this snowman image; he just looks so happy about winter. When I was thinking about a layout, I came across this snowflake-printed paper in the All Is Calm DSP and I knew it would be the perfect snowstorm-y background.

I stamped the image first on the piece of DSP to get his stick arms on the panel. Then I stamped the image again on Whisper White card stock. I colored the white snowman's nose, buttons and scarf with markers and a Gelly Roll pen and then cut him out (except the arms) and glued him over the snowman on the DSP. To finish the panel I used a black journaling pen to draw a border around the panel.

For the card base, I used Soft Sky card stock and added a piece of silver and white DSP (also from the All Is Calm pack) along the bottom of the card. I wanted to bring in a little bit of red on the card base, so I added a narrow strip of red-striped DSP. For a little embellishment I added a wooden snowflake and three little rhinestones.

I'm hoping to get some card-making done tomorrow, so I should be back soon with non-Christmas creations. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Merry and bright

Happy new year! I had a pretty uneventful New Year's Eve -- dinner and Netflix at home with my sister. I managed to stay up until midnight, but I went to bed right after that because I had to work early on Jan. 1. I did have one fun surprise, though: when I was putting away my extra Christmas cards I found one last card of my favorite design from this year. I mentioned in my last post that I thought I had given them all away without taking any pictures, so I was happy to find that card. I still have to take a picture of it, so that will be my next post. Today I'm going to share a clean and simple design with the sentiment as the focal point.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Holly Jolly Greetings
Paper: Thick Whisper White card stock, silver paper (retired), All Is Calm designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz, Lost Lagoon
Accessories: Christmas Greetings Thinlits dies, Star Confetti punch, Lost Lagoon taffeta ribbon, Mono Multi liquid glue

I chose my colors for this card from the All Is Calm DSP, which I bought on clearance last year. I used the two lightest colors -- Soft Sky and Pear Pizzazz -- to make the background. I inked up the star/confetti image with one of the colors and stamped several times before re-applying ink to get different shades of color and create depth. Then I repeated the process with the second ink color.

For the focal image I die cut the word "merry" from silver paper. Before I glued it on the card, I played around with the placement, then moved it off the card and stamped the hanging star and "& bright" with Lost Lagoon ink. Then I used tiny dots of Mono Multi liquid glue to adhere the die-cut to the card. To add a little more sparkle I punched a few stars out of the silver paper and glued them near the upper left corner of the card.

To finish off this card I placed a piece of striped All Is Calm DSP along the bottom and tied a piece of Lost Lagoon ribbon over the top edge of the DSP. (I also used the Envelope Liner Framelits dies to make a coordinating envelope, but I forgot to include that in the picture.)

Thanks for stopping by!