Time To Think About Christmas Cards

I know, it's only August and the kids just went back to school. I have already seen Christmas trees at Hobby Lobby and I do think that is premature! However, seasoned card makers know that it is a big job to make all of your Christmas cards. You can't wait until November to start. It's so much easier to make a few each week than to be incredibly stressed later on.

                                                           

I recently attended the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo and took a shaker card class from Queen and Co. The class was a lot of fun and this is one of the cards we made. Our instructor advised us not to discard any parts of the kit so we could use them later. Well, he was so right!

                                                          

I used an extra front piece for the top card as a stencil for this card. I laid it on top of white card stock and daubbed Distress Ink over the stencil to create this Christmas tree. The inside says Thinking of you with Love this Christmas. It was easy peasy and now I have two cards made.

Retro Tissue Box

I bought a package of these cute retro kitchen papers on a recent road trip. I thought these were perfect for a tissue box cover for my kitchen. It doesn't match my decor but it sure matches my cheeky attitude about being a "domestic goddess".

                                                                  

Thanks for visiting!

Special Birthday

WooHoo, I have a paying customer! I gifted some cards to one of the stylists at my hair salon recently. She showed them to her client and that sweet lady ordered a couple of cards from me. This is what I came up with for her friend's 60th birthday. I don't know the recipient at all so it made it kind of tough to design the card. I usually know the people who get my cards and I try to suit their taste and personality. I'm hoping that both of these ladies like this card.

                                       
                                                 

                                       

Sparkly Cocktails

I picked up this paper last week and it worked out perfectly for a Tic Tac Toe challenge on We Craft Cards. It was a fun card to make.

                                                                 


                                                             

Whoopie!!!

I bought this stamp set in Columbia, MO. about 100 miles from home. It was a little shop right next to the highway with no customers but me. I felt like I had to buy something so I decided to try this stamp.  OMG, I got a great result with very little effort! It's made by a company called Rubbernecker Stamps and their website is http://www.rubbernecker.com. You know, I love Altenew's floral stamps but they are labor intensive and time consuming. It's nice to know that I have this one as sort of a back up when I want a nice flower but not a lot of time to create one.

                                                                               

Succulent Stamps

I got this fun stamp set for Mothers Day from my wonderful daughter. Today was my first chance to play with it and I must say I love it. I used scraps for the whole thing in addition to stamping some extras for later use. I will have to see if there are dies for this set because the fussy cutting took a good while. Here is the card I made. I'm looking forward to using this set again soon. Thanks for stopping by!

                                                               

Antique Hanky Card

I am hosting the Monday challenge over at We Craft Cards.com.  I had been wanting to make a hanky card for a long time. I even bought some hankies at an antique mall but I had been unable to find a paper that would work. Lucky for me, I found this beautiful Pion paper at Vintage KC. The owner, Rene', stocks great papers for vintage work! My friend asked me to make a Mother's Day card for her 91 year mother in law so I went to work. Here is the result:

                                                              

She was thrilled with the card and is sure her mother in law will love it. If you like vintage things, this will be a fun card to try. There are some on Pinterest if you need more inspiration.

Diorama Card

These are easier to make than you would think. If you haven't tried it, you really should. The papers are Graphic 45's Portrait of a Lady. The card is for my Granddaughter who is beautiful inside and out.

                                                                

                                                                

                                                                 

How Does This Happen?

I'm surprised that no alarms went off as I walked out of Hobby Lobby this morning. I didn't know that the register would even print out such a small amount. Definitely a first for me!

                                                               

We Craft Cards Challenge

Our Monday challenge this week, Holey Cow, Batman!, was hosted by Golda. The challenge was to make a card with a hole in it. I used my Altenew Henna Elements stamps to create this card.

                                                         

New Toy

I finally bought a hexagon punch. I have the hexagon Spellbinders but that requires a lot of running through the Big Shot to get a handful of hexagons. It was half off at Michael's so I went for it. These are the cards I made using a Heidi Swapp paper pad.

                                                    

                                                            

Thanks for stopping by!

Altenew Class Day 6

This was the final lesson in the With A Twist Class at Altenew Academy. The technique is Embossing with Die Cuts. The idea is to cut a bunch of die cuts and adhere them to the card front so that it looks embossed. This was more fun than I thought it would be and I like the result. I think the secret here is not to use a very intricate die. Personally, it would drive me batty to have to glue a tedious die multiple times. It's hard to see the bit of color here; the greeting and border are made from matte rose gold paper.

                                                  

This was the first time I have taken a class with Altenew. I enjoyed it very much and I will take more of their classes in the future. Thanks for stopping by!

Altenew Class Day 5

In this class we were to mix modern with vintage. This was a fun, quick card to make. Although Shabby Chic is my favorite card style, I like this mix of vintage and modern.

                                                      

Altenew Class Day 4

The "Twist" on this day was to cut the front of the card oddly. The point is to show a little bit of the inside of the card and to add interest to the front. I chose to use a die for my odd cut but I could have just cut an angled line for a simpler look. The opening has acetate on it to make it sturdier in that bottom left corner. This is a Happy Retirement card for our friend Bruce who recently received the card that I set on fire. He is an avid trout fisherman.

                                         

Altenew Class Day 3

Day 3 of the Altenew "With A Twist" class was a shaker card where the window looks through to the inside of the card. It's not difficult to do; just something I never thought of. I had a sheet of this steampunk paper on hand so I decided to play with one of the hot air balloons. I had a minor catastrophe in that I accidentally knocked over my sequins. Oh yeah, silver and gold stars all over my floor! It was very pretty but not fun to pick up. So, here is the card and I'm also showing the inside so you can see that the window is through and through.
                                         
                                               


                                       

I had a small piece of paper left and I just couldn't let it go to waste. It works as a nice masculine version of the card. In case you can't tell, the border of the card is dark blue. I put an extra balloon on dimensional foam dots.

                                                   

Altenew Class Day 2

Today's lesson was about Unexpected Color. Making this card definitely made me think outside the box. I prefer jewel tones and bright colors but I am not brave about mixing them. So for me to use red, aqua and lime green was going out on a limb. I took a deep breath and dove in. After the initial scare, I grew to like this combo.  I decided not to use the layering stamps for the inside of the flowers and go with black and white pens instead, pushing my creativity a little further.

I don't have the dies for this Peony stamp set so I had to fussy cut all of the pieces. Good thing I find cutting relaxing!!

                                           

Altenew Class

I'm fairly new to Altenew Stamps; I love the multi-layered flowers! I am taking a new class from the Altenew Academy this week. It's called With A Twist and we will be learning different ways to use our stamps. This is the card I made after watching the first lesson. I am very pleased with it. Hope you like it too! It's more sparkly in person-I'm all about the glitz!!

                                                    

Great Color Combo

I just posted this card to The Outlawz for the Tuesday color challenge. The pallet is Turquoise, Yellow and Orange. I truly enjoyed playing around with my papers until I found just the right colors. The image is from a 12x12 sheet of watercolor paper printed with cutouts. I had already colored this as is, except I had left the petals white. It was easy to go in there with the orange to comply with the color challenge. I have to admit, that orange added some pizazz and cheer to the image.

                             

Get Well Card

I was recently lucky to win a challenge on The Outlawz. My prize was some free images from Bugaboo Stamps. I had a great time choosing my images and couldn't wait to play. I used this darling image to make a Get Well card. I will be posting it to We Craft Cards where the current Wednesday challenge is Animal Magnetism. Hope the card makes someone smile. Thanks for looking!
                                                       
                                               

Bad Blogger, No Biscuit!!!!

I have been a bad blogger. I have no excuse for my long absence. I'm sorry if you have checked back here looking for something new.

I have been busy making cards, as always, and posting some of them on We Craft Cards and The Outlawz. I recently was awarded "Featured Card" on one of The Outlawz boards. Here is that card:
           
                                                            

Yes, I really did set it on fire and had to go tell my husband that the house was not burning down. It made quite an odor for such a small fire! This was for a friend of ours who just turned 65. Happy Birthday, Bruce H.!!