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.

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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!

Wildflower card set

We had the weirdest winter storm last night. It started out as rain and ended up as about eight inches of heavy, wet snow. And just when all our snow was gone, we were having mild temperatures, and it looked like spring was on the horizon. Ugh. So to keep the feeling of spring alive, I'm sharing a set of floral notecards.

I used the Wildflower Background stamp (Taylored Expressions) and stamped it with black ink on eight pieces of white card stock. I chose eight colors of ink and, using a detail blender brush, I colored the flowers on each panel with one color. I die cut the panels with a stitched rectangle die, matted them with black card stock, and adhered them to card bases to match the flowers.

For the sentiments, I decided to use the Simple Strips Background stamp and die (Taylored Expressions). I chose ten sentiment strips and adhered foam tape to the back. I attached one of the sentiments to one of the cards and placed the rest of the strips in a little baggie to package with the cards. That way the recipient can choose which sentiment to use on which card -- with a couple of extra, just in case -- or they can use the cards without sentiments.

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Time to Party trio

I have another group of birthday cards to share from my October craft weekend. Today's festive trio was made with the Time to Party stamps and dies (Simon Says Stamp).

I love the graphic style of these bold, solid images. For the first card (left), I stamped, die cut, and glued together the pieces for three cupcakes, complete with cherries on top. I die cut a white stitched rectangle, stamped "happy birthday" in the lower left corner, and adhered it to a dark brown card base. I arranged the three cupcakes on the white panel and added a red card stock flag.

For the second card I used a kraft card base and stamped the asterisk/star images across the background using kraft and white ink. I stamped four balloons on white card stock, die cut them, and decided where I wanted to place them on the card front. When I was happy with the arrangement, I stamped the balloon strings with black ink on the card base and adhered the balloons. I added a sentiment strip and finished with three white enamel dots.

For the third card, I stamped and die cut three polka dot party hats: one pink, one purple, and one teal. I used black card stock for the card base and added a die-cut, stitched white panel in the middle. I die cut "celebrate" from black card stock a few times and layered them together to make the sentiment thicker. Then I arranged the hats, sentiment, and a sentiment strip on the card base and finished with several sequins scattered to look like confetti.

Thanks for stopping by!