Believe in Your Dreams (08/31/2012)

Sometimes we need to be reminded to believe in our dreams, and that is what today's card does:

A friend is off to a great adventure, and I am so proud of him!  He is going to China to teach English for a year.  I made this card to wish him well on his journey and adventure.  I wanted a Chinese theme, and my Cuttlebug bamboo embossing folder was just the trick!  I also stamped out some lanterns onto green vellum using Lawn Fawn's Lunar Lights.  I hung the lanterns from some twine (that I pulled apart and used only two strands, since it was too thick).  I strung the twine through two eyelets instead of wrapping it under the card panel.  This gave it a different look I must say (THANKS Terri for the tip!).  I also colored the twine with Tea Dye distress ink to darken it a little.

To keep it masculine, I didn't really do any embellishments and kept it monochromatic.  I matted the black cardstock panel with shimmery green paper from my stash, and made the card base from black as well.  For the sentiment, I used Lawn Fawn's Flutter By stamp set and used black embossing powder.  I also copic colored two pearls to dot the i's.  I triple matted the sentiment, to pop it up off the black background. 

I wish Kevin lots of luck during his year abroad, and know that he will have countless, amazing experiences!  Good luck to you, my friend!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

EXTRA: "Happy Summer" GUEST DESIGNER BONUS POST (08/30/2012)

This card that Terri gave me is too cute, so I had to share:

Terri used Lawn Fawn's Happy Summer set and some watermelon patterned paper from her stash.  She made a slider card - hence the ribbon on the right side ... pull the ribbon and a hidden panel on each side of the card slides out.  Here are what the panels look like:

and,

Terri stamed out those little ants and their trail, and stamped out watermelon slices and copic colored them. She also stamped the Happy Summer sentiment and matted it for the front.

Her slider card was amazing, and inspired the card I made for Toby's wedding, which you can see here.  Terri did such a fantastic job on this card, and truly made my summer happy!  She's a total peach :)  Thank you Terri for this beautiful, fun and interactive card!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Bunny Cake Birthday Card (08/29/2012)

What do bunnies and cakes have in common?  They help wish a Happy Birthday to the birthday girl .... Of course, everybody needs a bunny cake!  Let's see one:

I made a birthday card for a friend, who loves bunnies.  I thought it would be fun to have the bunny popping out of the cake and be on top of the cake instead of candles.  So, I pulled out some pretty patterned paper from my stash, and got crackin' on stamping out some Lawn Fawn birthday cake from the Bake Me a Cake stamp set.  I used the bunny from Critters in the 'Burbs.  I stamped out a banner from Bannerific, and stamped the sentiment on the banner from Sophie's Sentiments.    

I used a card base from a pack of cards I got at a big box store, but layered a card panel in blue from my stash.  The patterned birthday cake paper is from my stash too.  I cut out a label with Spellbinders Label 16 (a favorite!) and matted it in black.  I tied a piece of Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimming cord from the Vivid Triple Pack Cord set.  I don't like ribbons or cords stretched across the inside of my card, so I made the panel with matted label and image as a unit, tied the cord around it, tied a bow, then adhered the whole thing down onto the card base.  This way, the cord doesn't wrap around through the inside of the card.

I think Kelly will like this, cuz she loves bunnies.  Here's wishing her a happy birthday!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Down Under Birthday Card (08/27/2012)

Crickey!  Whot's that you say?  I spy a Down Under Birthday Card with a cuddly koala bear:

I made this birthday card with Lawn Fawn's Critters Down Under, Sunny Skies, Bannerific, and Hats Off to You.

I created a panel from purple patterned paper from my stash, and adhered it to a card base.  I stamped out the trees, koala and leaves, birthday party hat, and sun, and colored them with copic markers.  I stamped the banner and sentiment, and fussy cut out the banner. 

I also used my new favorite shape, Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles to cut and emboss a white label, and cut and embossed a mat in purple.

Layered it all up, and had a fun birthday card for a birthday girl.  Hopefully Chrystie likes her card.  It was fun to make :0

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Quick "Scrap" Card (08/24/2012)

Sometimes ya just need a card quick - and I decided to use some scraps.  My scrap bags are getting too cumbersome, so I figured this was a way to combat it.  This is what I pulled out of the scrap bag and committed to use: 



I picked some lavendar today, and needed to make a little card to send along with the lavendar bouquet.  I pulled out some scraps.  The black piece was a piece of cardstock that I cut out a label with my die cutter.  I realized that the negative space would make a great card base, so I used that as my foundation.

I ended up cutting the purple paper and filled in the negative label space on the card base.  I layered up the flowers and leaf, and stamped a sentiment (using a sentiment from Lawn Fawn's You've Got Mail) and matted and cut it.  Here is what I ended up with:

Pretty easy, and a great way to use up some scraps.  I like that it was a fast way of making a card too.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Z-Fold Birthday Card (08/22/2012)

Today's card is scraplifted from a class I took at the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo.  I took a fabulous class, called "Fabulous Folds" by the incredible Melissa of The Rubber Cafe.  Melissa had us do a card with a Z-fold, two square diecuts, and a large colored rose stamp. 

Here is the card that I made recently, based on what Melissa taught us:

It is kinda hard to tell that the black label is repeated on the front of the card, and the inside.  So, I took another photo to help highlight that.  Here is a different view:

The card base is 6" x 11-1/2" and scored in the middle.  I also scored the front flap at the halfway mark, and folded the right side back over the left side to make the Z fold shape. 

I adhered the black label die inside the card, then aligned the second black label die over the flap on the front so that the two black labels were in (practically) perfect alignment when the card was closed. 

I stamped a rose, using two of Melissa's designs, Wild Rose and Rose Garden, and colored them with Copics.  I fussy cut them, and layered the images and popped up the center of the rose.  Then, a little Scrap Happy Glue and some glitter later, I had some bling!

I made this card for my cousin's Birthday - I made it without a sentiment, but hopefully birthday wishes were still shared!  Happy Birthday Vicki!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Garden Party Merci (08/20/2012)

Today's card is a Garden Party Merci card.  Gonna get right to it:

I was invited to a Garden Party, so I made this little card to say Merci for the wonderful party!  I used Lawn Fawn's Judy's Blooms and Flutter By stamp sets.  I stamped out lots of fllowers and leaves, then colored them in with rainbow colored Copic markers.  After fussy cutting, I laid out the flowers and raised a few with pop dots.

I stamped the sentiment, which is a "thank you" gift that Lawn Fawn includes in all their orders, and die cut and framed it with Reverse Wonky Rectangles.

A few blingy pearls and a spot of gold glitter glue later, I was done!  Easy, fun, colorful card.  It was a fun party in a beautiful garden.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Glitter Fest! (08/17/2012)

A while ago I went to the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo, and hung out at the Sprinkle N Sparkle booth for a bit and was intrigued by all the glitter!  So, I had to try it.  Let's say HEY shall we?

And, I also made a shaped card using a Spellbinders die.  I cut and scored a card base, then laid the die on top of the card base, but pushed it a little off the folded edge so it wouldn't cut there.

I wanted to use the card base as the "frame" for the glitter panel, so I cut out a recentangular piece of white paper and laid a rectangle of adhesive sheet on it.  Then, I ran it through my Cuttlebug to create a shaped piece of cardstock covered with adhesive.

Once I had my shape cut out, I peeled off parts of the top layer of adhesive and laid down strips of the adhesive covering that I had punched out, and sprinkled glitter on the exposed parts.  I kept revealing more sections of the adhesed cardstock until it was all covered in glitter.  I used several different colors - and just did all sorts of random shapes.  No rhyme or reason to it - I just wanted to hone in on the technique and give it a whirl.

I really like how it turned out - and it was pretty darn easy!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Mickey Thank You (08/15/2012)

You just gotta meet today's card!  But, before we do - here is a hint:  M-I-C ... K-E-Y ... do you know what it is?  Yep, a MICKEY MOUSE Thank You card!  Woo hoo - let's say HOWDY shall we?

I needed to make a Thank You card with a Disney theme (I just had to!).  I used a card base from a set I got at a big box store, and used two different Disney patterned paper.  I created a card panel with a patterned paper with lots of little Mickeys.  I cut out a Mickey Mouse close up from another Disney patterned paper, and matted it with black.  I needed to frame my sentiment, so I pulled out my current FAVORITE Spellbinders die (Reverse Wonky Rectangles), stamped my sentiment, die cut it out and cut out a larger one to frame it.

I used some Antique Linen distress ink to ink the sentiment and the edges of the card.  This helped soften and highlight both.

Then, just to add a little more texture and movement, I slapped on a strip of Disney washi tape across the base.  I adhered everything on, and had my Disney Thank You card.

I am really happy with how it turned out, and I hope Nyla enjoys it and knows how much I appreciate her!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Labels! (08/13/2012)

Are ya ready for it? Today's post is NOT a card, not reallly a project ... but actually an organizing thing I did!

I use Distress Inks a lot, but the thing that I like least about them, is that I can't identify which ink is which, when I have them all stacked up on my shelf.  Here are what the ink containers look like:

Notice, the color and name is on the TOP of the ink pad container, not on the edges.  When I use them, and I use them a lot!, I hate having to sift through all the containers looking for whatever color I am trying to get my hands on.

A while ago, I tried marking the edges with a silver sharpie to label the ink colors, but it was hard to read:

So, I decided to come up with a way of marking both the name and the color ... and decided to create labels, using white paper.  I cut strips of paper, wrote the ink name on it, and then colored each strip with the ink color.  Here is one of the strips cut out and colored:

Then, I adhered each strip of paper to its respective ink container, and viola!  I have easily identifiable inks!  No more stacking and restacking looking for the ink I need.  Here is how it turned out:

I am thrillled with my labels :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Magic Wands! (08/10/2012)

Another day, another fun (hopefully!) post ... but today's project is NOT a card.  Nary any paper in sight, and no stamping ... it is a passel of magic wands!  Let's check them out:

Before you get all excited, and think that TWO isn't a passel..., just you wait!

My better half is in a local production of "The Changeling" that is being performed at our county fair.  It is an original production about the changeling boy and his journey reclaiming his belief in fairy tales.  The writer and director wrote in several parts in the script for children in the audience to "wave their magic wands" to help Puck fly and to help strengthen spells.  The troop will perform the show five different times during the fair run, so they, ah-hem, asked for TWO-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY wands!  So, I got cracking!

After several attempts at designs, and ways to adhere the toppers to the wand sticks (lots o' discussions and ideas on wand sticks too!), I settled on black chip board stars and hearts for the toppers, and pre-cut packaged dowels for the wand sticks.

Because the director wanted this interactive, I had to design the wands so that the children could "build" their own wand as well, as the play was getting underway.  More prototypes and designs later, and thanks to several friends - especially Terri - who gave incredible advice, I decided to die cut the toppers and adhere curling ribbon streamers with hot glue.  I also decided to wrap the wand stick dowels with curling ribbon too.  And, obtained some silver and gold glittery sprays.  I also used 3D pop dots to adhere the ribboned topper to the ribboned dowel.  The idea was for the kids to choose their topper shape (heart or star), with one of three color choices (red/purple, blue/green, or orange/yellow), and then choose their wand stick color (red, purple, blue, green, orange or yellow) and then decide if they wanted some glittery "fairy dust" in either silver or gold.

So, for the past few weeks, I have been die cutting stars and hearts; cutting, tieing and gluing ribbon streamers to the toppers; and wrapping wand stick dowels.  Plus, the first performance was on the Main Stage, and we had to have 50 pre-made wands to hand out at this venue due to the other events scheduled on the stage.  Again, had to get crack-a-lackin' to get this all done ahead of time :)

Here is a pile o' wands that were pre-made for the Main Stage performance:

Here is our table, where the magic happened during the other shows:

To prepare for the plays with the interactive-wand-creation, I separated out each shape and color for the toppers, into 6 large baggies.  The wand sticks were separated out by color as well (you can't see all six of them, but they are there!).  Kids approached the table, chose their shape and color combo, then their stick color (stuck them together with the 3D glue dots) and what color fairy dust glittery spray.  It went really well, and was pretty easy to do. 

However, the prep was where it all paid off.  I spent countless hours wrapping each dowel with the curling ribbon, cutting the topper shapes, and adhering curling ribbon streamers to each topper.  Here is how I covered the dowels in curling ribbon:

I laid down some hot glue at the end of the dowel, to anchor my ribbon and hold it tight while I wrapped the entire dowel.  Start with lots of glue!

Then, start wrapping.

As I neared the end of the wand stick, I added more hot glue to finish off and hold the curling ribbon.

I also realized that it worked best to keep wrapping the ribbon over the top of the ribbon at the end, and kinda work backwards a few wraps.  I added a drop of glue at the very end of the ribbon too, to hold it all together:

Here is one happy little girl, with TWO wands!

And, a happy big girl:

And some happy boys:

All in all, I think the wands were a hit, and really helped The Changeling come to life!  And, the wands were really fun to prep.  But the best part was to see the big and little kids enjoying their wands and waving them to help make Puck fly!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Black & Red Make & Take Shaker card (08/08/2012)

At the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo, I did a couple Make & Takes.  I attended the all-day crop, and part of our evening's entertainment at the crop was vendor sponsored make & takes as well.  This card was one of them.  We did a dramatic shaker card!  Check it out:

The card parts were pre-designed, and we just basically put it together.  But, it was fun - and an easy way to make a shaker card.  In the past, I have used acrylic, foam tape, lots of adjusting, etc.  This was super easy - we had a pre-cut heart shape in our red cardstock panel, and the plastic raised heart box fit right inside.  Here is a close up:

This was a quick and easy way to make a shaker card, and I really like the colors of the card too - I like the dramatic red & black colors, and the embossing on the red panel.  Fun card, fun to make, and oh-so-pretty!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

An Under the Sea Card for my Mommy! (08/06/2012)

Today's card is for my Mommy!  My Mommy loves dolphins, and she is so supportive of me (these things probably aren't related...) and I wanted to make her a card just to say Hey!  So, this is what I made:

This card was fun to make, and very different for me.  It is a card that flips open, like a messenger bag, and then has two gates that open to get to the inside of the card.  There are lots of spaces to fill with images and/or sentiments, plus a space to write something.  It was made from one full sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" paper as the card base.  Here is the card with the first part flipped up:

After the gates open, this is what is inside:

Here is a photo farther away, to show the card all folded open:

I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Sea and Grand Greetings for this card.  I knew I wanted to do a dolphin and sea theme, but needed some coordinating paper to go with the card base and images.  The Close To My Heart paper pack was just exactly what I needed - and I had purchased the paper pack at the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo when I visited there recently.  I can't remember the name of the card pack, but it was perfect! 

Here is a close up of the dolphin - and notice the little bit o' glittery bling that I traced inside the outine of the dolphin for extra pizazz:

And,I had to add a little glittery bling on the turtle too:

I used patterned paper from my stash for the critters.  And, I used Spellbinders dies to make the beaded oval shapes.  Here is how I inked the larger oval, after cutting and dry embossing it:

Back to the card itself ... I made the card based on an idea I scraplifted from the fine ladies at Sparkle N Sprinkle's blog.  Check out their post with directions here.  At first I was intimidated by the volume of the directions, but after I re-read them, it seemed pretty do-able.  All-in-all, this was pretty fun and easy to do.  I really like how it turned out and I hope my wonderful Mommy enjoys this card just saying hello and sending love.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Happy Birthday Expo Make & Take (08/03/2012)

I recently attended the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo and did some make & takes.  Here is one of them:

This make & take was at a big box store's vendor booth.  I was really happy that they had a free make & take, and this is one of the cards I made at their booth.  They had a whole bunch of paper, with a fairly vague idea of what to do - so I chose my paper combinations and the embellishments.  I loved the green patterned paper, so that had to be front and center.  I used a yellow cardstock card, and matted my green patterned paper with a cream cardstock.  I popped up a flower die cut and added a little bling in the center.  I also adhered a ribbon around the patterned paper and mat.  I don't like ribbon inside my card - so I adhered the ribbon around the panel before I adhered it to the cardstock base. 

I also am not very skilled at bows, so I cut a small piece of ribbon, and tied it in a knot around the ribbon stretched across the card panel.  The "knotted ribbon" then is slideable, and I slid it along the ribbon until I found exactly the right spot for it.  Check out the closeup:

To finish off the card, I added a Happy Birthday sentiment rub on, and put two little colored rhinestones at the ends.

Easy peasy - and fun.  I like make & takes!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

So Sorry for your Loss card (08/01/2012)

Today's card is a sympathy card.  They are so hard to make, literally and figuratively.  Let's look at what I made:

I wanted to make a card with a sunset framed by trees.  I decided to use Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest pine tree, and stamped it with black ink on a dark green paper.  It wasn't quite dark enough, so I inked over it with Dusty Concord Distress Ink to darken it even further.

I made a card from cream cardstock, and made a cream panel as well, that I scored to make a frame.  I used a white cardstock for my actual stamping, so the stars would be whiter than the creamy background.  I needed a late sunset-sun, so I stamped a solid circle with a orangey Distress Ink, then covered it with clear embossing powder and heat embossed it.  I also stamped Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After stars in versa mark, and added clear embossing powder and heat embossed those.  I did this so that the stars would resist the ink in the next step.

I decided to color my own sunset, so I pulled out several Distress Ink pads in yellows, oranges and reds, and my inker.  I covered most of the sun & star-stamped panel with the lightest of my inks.  I then kept layering the ink in sequential darker colors, as I worked my way up the card.  I wanted to give this card an almost-dusk feel and wanted the sky pretty dark, but still lit up. 

I framed the inked panel with pine trees, and trimmed off the tree that poked off the edge, and then layered this panel onto the card.

I used Technique Tuesday's So Sorry by Ali Edwards sentiment.  I stamped it on cream cardstock, then cut it with my new Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles die.  I LOVE this shape!  I softened it with a blush of ink to match the sunset, popped it up and adhered it to the card.

All-in-all, the card came out like I planned it to be, and I think it helps show how I feel about the loss a friend has endured.  I hope it helps the family know I am thinking of them during this difficult time.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris