Simple Circle Card

Here's one of my favorite techniques for making a quick and cute card. I took an older stamp set called "Nature Walk" from Stampin' Up! and stamped each image on card stock. Then, using dies, I cut out circles. If some of the image goes on the outside of the  circle, that's okay. It adds to the look.

Add dimension my adhering some of the circles with varying heights of dimensionals. I finished it off with various sizes of pearl adhesives.

Give this easy card a try when you need a fast card. And thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge 130

The last of my Christmas cards left today, and it felt really good to get that task over with. Perhaps like many of you, I like making cards more than sending them. But it was really nice connecting with family and friends and sharing my love of paper crafting.

So it was a nice change of pace to participate in the challenge "Just Say No To Christmas" over at Stamp, Ink, Paper. With Valentine's Day on my mind, I tried "CASing" a card I saw on Pinterest. I didn't have a heart stamp that quite fit the bill, so I cut a die out and sponged the hearts on the paper. Then I added extra touches. It looked nothing like the Pinterest card, but it was good to get the inspiration from there anyway. The card below is what started it all. It's from Lisa Addesa over at I'm In Haven.

Here's my supply list:

110# White Card Stock
Stampin' Up! Sizzlits Hearts Set
Stampin' Up! Pretty Thankful Stamps (flowers)
Memento Angel Pink Ink
Memento Rose Red Ink
Memento Love Letter Ink
Memento Pear Tart Ink
Stampin' Up! Real Red Ink
Hero Arts Color Layering Stamp Set (sentiment)
dylusions Stencil Small Bubbles Stencil

Thanks to everyone over at Stamp, Ink, Paper and to Lisa Adessa for providing the inspiration I needed today!

Winter Fun 4 Kids Challenge

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this website, Send A Smile 4 Kids. It's a challenge blog website that focuses on making and collecting cards for kids in hospitals. Karen and her team do an amazing job!

Since my kids are 18 and 21, I don't have a lot of reason to make cards for kids. But since they're so fun to make, this website is a great place to send them, and it's such a great cause too.

This week's challenge is called Winter Fun 4 Kids. Bugaboo Stamps is giving away four of their digi stamps to the winner this week. I went over to their website looking for a snowman, but found this adorable penguin, and it's FREE this week. Yay! I snagged him (he was in a set of 3) and printed him out. The sentiment is my own.

Every Friday Bugaboo Stamps gives away a free digital stamp. Nice! Be sure to check it out and down load it while you can. You never know when you'll need just what they have to offer. Thanks Bugaboo!

So for the rest of this card, I colored it with the Copic Markers seen in the photo. Then I embellished it a little more with Stickles Stardust and Stickles Frosted Lace. (See the little detailed photo on the right.) The background paper is from a Hanukkah page by Photoplay. I added additional snowflakes to it from Lawn Fawn's "Merry Messages" set.

It's my hope that this card, which will most likely be for next year, will go to a boy. I tried hard to keep it from being to girly. Maybe even an older guy would like him too.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.

Stampin' Up! "Santa's Gifts" Christmas Card

I love this older set from Stampin' Up! because it's a great mix of being both kid-friendly and adult-friendly.

At first it looked a little plain, but adding Stickles Star Dust snowflakes and snow on the ground really helped it look better. (See detailed picture below.)














It's such a simple card, but I like how cheery it looks.


Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, and if you're reading this in December, have a blessed Christmas!

Coloring Embossed Images with Gel Pens

Inspired by a challenge over at splitcoaststampers.com, I came up with the design for this card.

I don't currently have any white craft ink, so I thought I'd color the birch trees with a white gel pen. I love how the scribbled look of the pen mimics actual birch trees. It took a little while to color the whole thing, but it was fun.

This cardinal, from Stampin' Up!'s "Joyful Season" is the smallest bird I have that would fit this theme. I used Memento's "Love Letter" and "Gray Flannel" inks.

The card stock, "Smoky Slate" and "Real Red" is from Stampin' Up! The gel pen is from "Jelly Roll." (I've had this pen for years and was really surprised that it lasted long enough to finish this card. I will definitely buy this brand in the future.)

Here's some detail of the colored birch trees. I think it looks better from a distance.

I really liked doing this technique and plan on trying it again on some different embossed images. But first I need to get more Jelly Roll pens!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

What To Do With All Those Cards Idea #1 Random Acts of Kindness

I made this card with some "rejects" from a challenge I did yesterday. I hated to throw away the red glitter "joy" die cut and the embossed holly and berries, so I threw this card together, even though I don't have a specific need for it.

I've been thinking of unusual ways to use my cards, and leaving one someplace with a note has been on my mind. Since it's 10 days before Christmas, this seems like a perfect time for an "Act of Random Kindness." But you can do this any time of year.

When we do a RAC card, be careful what you stamp on the back. Mine just says "Handmade." I don't want to be tracked. But if you're a demonstrator, have a shop or hold classes, this may be a perfect opportunity to let others know about you. You can stamp your name or website if you want.

Next, write a note so they know it's for them to take, and not something that someone left by accident. I stamped the same image on a post it note and wrote a greeting. You can put it on the inside of the card like this if you want.

I was planning on doing that, but since I am going to leave mine in a ladies room somewhere, I though it may get wet, so I decided to put it in a plastic baggie. I moved the note to the envelope and put that on the back side of the baggie.

Also attached is a pen from my church. They're always encouraging us to reach out to others, so I thought this was a great opportunity. Plus, a pen goes nicely with a card.

Here's my finished product:

I'm not exactly sure where I'll leave it, but it's kind of exciting to think that this may brighten someone's day today.

If you have any other ideas about using cards in "Random Acts of Kindness" I'd love to hear about them. Please leave a comment or story below.

And thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

SIP Challenge 129

Hi everyone! Today's card is made for challenge 129 over at Stamp, Ink, Paper. We have to use the colors gold, red and green. Here's my supply list:

Gold Glitter Paper
Red Glitter Paper
Gold "Mirror" Paper
Stampin' Up! Garden Green Paper & Ink
Stampin' Up! Real Red Ink
Stampin' Up! Dimensional & Adhesive Sheets
Close to my Heart Holly Stamps
Hero Arts Joy Die

It was fun to make this card, especially now that most of the "hard work" of Christmas is over. If I don't use this card this year it will be perfect for next.

Thanks to Justin and everyone over at Stamp, Ink, Paper for the inspiration. And thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

Easy Paper Ornaments

When the Garden Club of St. Petersburg asked us to provide some little gifts for nursing home patients this year, I knew I wanted to make something from paper. I saw one of these on Etsy, and thought I could figure out the dimensions and make my own. They're really easy, but I did have to buy a few tools. Here's what I did:

1) Choose a piece of double sided patterned paper. Each 12 x 12 sheet makes 4 ornaments.

2) Cut the paper in 1" x 12" strips.

3) Fold 4 strips in half.

4) Cut 4 strips down to 10" x 1".

5) Fold them in half with the opposite print out.

6) Cut 4 more strips down to 8" x 1". (Reserve the extra 4" of these strips.)

7) Fold the 8" x 1" strips in half with the same side out as the 12" strips.

8) Cut the reserved 4" x 1" down to 3 1/2" x 1".

9) Line them upright on the table and align the unfolded ends.

10) Punch with the hole punch then staple just below the the hole.

12) Push the bottom folded side together so the bottom of all those line up. The ornament shape will form when you do this. Hold it firmly a little farther up and staple just above the fold. Make sure you have the smallest middle strip firmly in there.

13) Tie with a ribbon. (I used 12" of ribbon for each one.)

Here are some of the tools I used and the links to them:

Heavy Duty Stapler:
http://amzn.to/2krTdPV

Heavy Duty Staples:
http://amzn.to/2nY5fp2

Heavy Duty Slotted Punch:
http://amzn.to/2o0H75f

The first time I made a few of these I did use a "plier" stapler like the one shown here, but it wasn't a heavy duty one, and neither were the staples. I had about a 50% success rate with it. Because I wanted to make around 50 of these ornaments, I decided to make the investment in the new stapler and staples. They made the job so much easier. I already had the heavy duty punch, so that was a plus.

You can still make the project without these tools. For the hole punch, you can use a regular one, punching each strip individually, then lining up the holes. As for the stapling, you can always glue the layers together and hold them in place with a paper clamp. If you just want to make a few, that will be the cheapest way to go. But if you want to make a lot of them like I did, the heavy duty tools really helped.

Next year I plan on buying a heavy duty 1/16" or 1/8" punch and hanging a jingle bell on the bottom. But since this is a last-minute kind of project that will have to wait.

I also thought it would look nice to die cut a sentiment like "Joy" and glue it to the front. But for now the plain ones will have to do.

My bucket is ready to take to the Garden Club tomorrow. I hope the nursing home patients will enjoy their ornaments!

Masculine Teacher Card Set & Free Digital Stamp

Click Here For Free Guitar Stamp

My music-major daughter wanted me to make a gift (which she knew would be handmade cards) for a male teacher of hers. I just pinned this cute guitar stamp earlier, not knowing what I'd do with it. When she told me he liked guitars, I knew this would be perfect!

One thing to keep in mind is that not all card stock goes through the printer well. I used Speckletone True White from paperpapers.com. It's a rustic looking paper that is only a 70# weight. It goes easily through the printer, but I give it a little shove to help get it started.

Since I only know how to print these in black, I went with the off-white and black theme, perfect for a guy too. I printed four of these on a page and cut them down and framed them in black card stock. Hand stamped the word "thanks" (but you could print this right on the page too).  Then I used Stampin' Up!'s "Hardwood" as a background. So easy and cute!

To make it a gift, I used Stampin' Up!'s new clear boxes from the 2017 Christmas catalog. I really hope they make these a regular part of their line up. Then I printed a little tag that said "Set of 8 Handmade Cards" and cut it out with a circle die and used a small punch to make the tag. I tied the tag on with twine. Simple, quick, and a guy card set too.

Homemade Just for You Card

Another card in the set I made for my baking/crafting friend is this one. The set is from Stampendous. The inks I used are Stampin' Up!'s Garden Green, Pear Pizzaz and Real Red. The card stock colors are the same from Stampin' Up! as well. I used their large scallop die to cut out the red, then used a white gel pen to add the dots. It's finished off with sequins from Walmart.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Card for a Crocheting Friend

This cute skein of yarn is from the Stampin' Up! set called "Hand Knit." The sentiment is one I had custom made on Etsy.

I had fun with the different colors, but maybe would have moved a few of them around a little. Here are the colors I used:

I really find that the Memento Inks work a lot better when stamping fine images like this skein of yarn. However, to use the Stampin' Up! images I buy the re-inker and the mini uninked stamp pads. The small fabric pads don't get as gunky with the ink like the new larger Stampin' Up! ink pads can.

I really think my friend will love this card. I'd also like to try doing this with some neutral colors too, but not this time. I want to give her this gift tomorrow and it's already almost ten at night now. It seems like I always get these great ideas at Christmas with too little time to make all I want. I'll have to revisit this in January.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and have a blessed day!

Snappy Happy Hanukkah!

Stickers called “Life’s Little Occasions” by K & Co. make this Hanukkah card a snap to assemble. The paper is from “Photo Play Paper Company.”

I couldn’t find a Happy Hanukkah stamp, so I just let the design speak for itself. Inside I put the sentiment anyway, and I think it looks just fine. Next year I hope to be more prepared.

And tomorrow this sweet card goes in the mail! Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends!

"Christmas Baking" Paper Players Challenge #373

This challenge was just what I needed to get making some cards for a Christmas gift for a friend who loves to bake. Challenge #373 over at The Paper Players is titled "Christmas Baking." I used the following supplies:

Vintage Kitchen Stamps Set by TCP Studios
Stampin' Up! Layered Letters Alphabet
Speckletone White Card Stock
Stampin' Up! Home for Christmas DSP
Stampin' Up! Real Red Ink

Thanks so much to everyone over at The Paper Players for jump starting Sue's gift project! And thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a great day!

How Color Can Make A Big Difference

I wanted to do a tiny tutorial on how choosing the right color can help you make the most of the stamps you already have.

Since it's almost Christmas, I wanted to make a friend some cards that have a "from the kitchen" theme because she loves to cook and bake. I also came across a challenge called "Christmas Baking" over at The Paper Players.

My first instinct was to run out and buy a new set of stamps. But after rummaging through my boxes of stamps I came across this vintage looking set on the right from TCP Studios. I really love the look, and it has the saying "from the kitchen of" that I really wanted. But didn't want something so old fashioned.

I also wanted to use the papers shown below from the Stampin' Up! DSP collection called "Home for Christmas." But how was I going to combine the modern paper with the old fashioned stamps? Just as I was getting my shoes on to go for that new set of stamps, it hit me. COLOR.

Normally this stamp set would scream for black or brown. I even tried to use Always Artichoke (a dark green from Stampin' Up!) but it looked awful against the patterned paper. So I broke out of my comfort zone and stamped the kitchen utensils in red. I love the look of the card below and even made a matching envelope.

While this is a simple principle, it's not always intuitive to me. So it's my hope that this tiny tutorial will help you as you think about color and different ways to use the stamps you already have.

I will most likely still hit my favorite store tomorrow for a newer set to make more kitchen cards, but it felt good to use what I had in my stash too. She'll have a variety of cards, and my old stamps get the love they deserve too!