Inlaid Floral Birthday Card

Inlaid Floral Birthday Card

This card features the “Stained Glass Floral” die by Memory Box along with a greeting die called “Doodle Happy Birthday” by Poppy Stamps. I used my score board to deboss the background.

I originally intended this card to be white on white.

Then I wondered how it would look in navy…

I had the negative (navy) pieces from this die cut so thought I’d try adding them to the white die cut…

I can’t decide which version I like best!

I love how the diagonal debossed lines “decorate” the petals and leaves, especially on the inlaid version.

I made the die cuts into stickers by adding Super Tacky Tape by Creek Bank Creations to the back of the card stock before die cutting.

The floral die cut is very thin and delicate and does not hold its shape well when trying to adhere it to the card so I created a template by positioning and cutting the image from plain white card stock that was the same size as my card front. I was able to place the template over the actual card panel and drop the die cut into the negative space on the template and shape it before sticking it down. 

Over at Cardz 4 Galz, we are challenged to create a Clean and Simple (CAS) card.

Thanks for checking out my card projects!

To My Favorite Peanut

To My Favorite Peanut

One of the great things about making cards is the ability to customize them. My son asked me to make “a peanut card” for his girlfriend with an elephant and peanut image he found online. (Nicknames, inside jokes… lol!) I came up with a few different samples to start, and he pointed me in the direction he wanted me to go. The sample above is from Eric’s vision, using the papers, greeting, and design he chose. He decided he wanted a cute, festive look with a bold image.

We thought it would be fun to separate the head and make it wobble using an action wobble spring (Hampton Art).

I “traced” the image and then created cut files using my Silhouette software.

The original online image had soft edges…

…so some of the samples I started with were much softer looking. Here’s one of them:

For this one, I inked the edges instead of matting all the elephant pieces and peanut on black.

For Eric’s card, I used Glitter Card Stock (Recollections) and a sheet from “The Birthday Wishes Stack” (DCWV). The “Happy Birthday Sentiment” die is by Creek Bank Creations, and the bottom strip was computer generated. Both were cut and stacked several times to make them stand out better. The hat was hand cut from “Easter Stripe” paper (Reminisce); the “pom pom” was made with the “Flower & Flourish” edger punch (EK Success). The peanut was debossed with theTim Holtz/Sizzix “Dot Matrix” embossing folder (and then flattened a bit with my bone folder) to add texture to the shell.

For the second sample, I used a sheet of Studio Calico/American Crafts paper (#331575) and “White Plaid” by Core’dinations/American Crafts.

The elephant was cut from “Gray Kraft” and the peanut from the “Nostalgia” pack (both Recollections). GKD Stormy Sky and Dark Chocolate inks were used to ink the edges.

Thanks for checking out my card projects!

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Golf Frustration

Golf Frustration

This card features the amusing “Frustration” stamp from Stamps Happen by Gary Patterson. I made this card for my husband to present a gift of golf lessons. (Looks like this dude could use some lessons too – lol!!)

I stamped the image in Gina K Designs black amalgam ink and colored it with Copic Markers (grass and leaves: G21, G24, G28, G29, G82, G94; tree E87, E89; bird, and sky: B91, B95, B97; animals: E31, E41, E43, E44, E47, R56, 100; golf club: C5, Y26; golfer: E23, E25, E27, B34, B39, E50, E51, E53; gnome and clouds: C0, C2, E000, R56; and lots of colorless blender for mistakes!)

Thanks for checking out my card project!

Two Cards for Gift Giving

Two Cards for Gift Giving

The first card is for giving restaurant gift cards or cash for meals.

My kids often opt for take-out instead of cooking for themselves (some more than others!), so I made “Take-out Kits” for each of them as part of their Christmas gift this year. This card was part of the the “kit.”

The chef is from the “Recipe for Happiness” stamp set by My Favorite Things. He was stamped with Gina K Designs black amalgam ink and colored with Copic Markers (C0, C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, E13, E21, E25, E27, E29, E41, E42, E43, E50, R89, and a colorless blender).

The text was computer generated.

The A2 card base has a pocket inside to include restaurant gift cards or cash for meals. To make it, I started with a 5 1/2 x 11 inch panel and scored it at 4 1/4 and 8 1/2. That left the 2 1/2 inch portion to create the pocket.

The insulated bags would also be good for groceries. The cutlery could be kept in their desks at work, and the “meal decision dice” were just silly!

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The second card is for gifting an Uber gift card.

The die cut is from a Silhouette cut file called “Santa’s Sleigh” (design # 336564) by Simply Sweet Cut Files. It was cut from Bazzill “Pomegranate Splash” card stock and embossed with the SU “Subtle” embossing folder.

The background panel was debossed with the Darice “Snowflake Swirl” embossing folder. I used the debossed side so there’d be more surface area on which to adhere the die cut. The greeting was computer generated.

This one also has a pocket (or flap) to hold the gift card.

Thanks for checking out my card projects!

Santa Slider Window Card

Santa Slider Window Card

I know Christmas isn’t really about the presents, but gift giving is included in our celebration…

Christmas morning looks very different in our house now that my 4 children are adults. A few years ago, we moved from piles of wrapped gifts to a few small things and a monetary gift. I stressed about what we would do in the morning with very little to open and made it my mission to come up with a different “Christmas Morning Activity” for the kids each year instead. The first year was easy. They each received 10 wrapped boxes, each containing various amounts of money, and they needed to open them all to see how much their total gift was. Then it got trickier! We did a scavenger hunt one year where I hid a bunch of envelopes containing money near various holiday decorations around the house. They each got a list of clues, and when they found each decoration, they found the money-filled envelopes with their names on them. They worked in teams/pairs and tried to see which pair could find all their loot first. Another year, I hid puzzle pieces (for 2 identical Christmas puzzles) around the house, and the same teams/pairs had to find all the pieces and build their puzzle first. This year, I found a Christmas themed home version of an “Escape Room Challenge” which the teams raced to solve. I’m amused at the friendly competition between them as they attack the challenges each year!

Another difference for this year was that instead of giving them cash (which required a trip to the bank to make the withdrawl and then another trip back to deposit it into their accounts), I transferred the money directly into their accounts. It felt a little weird to just tell them I transferred the money so I wanted to come up with an interactive card to “present the gift” to them. (It took me a while to get to the card project for this post, but I finally made it – lol!!)

When the ribbon is pulled, Santa slides back to reveal the gift. (Theirs actually had the amount showing!)

(inside: Use it to buy something fun!)

I created the Santa from a Silhouette cut file called “Santa Cartoon” (design #283758) by Sarah Bailey. The slider window card was created from another Silhouette file called “A2 Santa Slider Window Card” (design #100187) by Lori Whitlock. This file includes a Santa as well, but I had already purchased the “Santa Cartoon” file so I thought I would go with that.

The designer paper is called Christmas Cheer Peppermint by Lily Bee Designs. The card stock is Gina K Designs Cherry Red, Christmas Pine, Warm Glow, white, black and a scrap of yellow. All the text was computer generated.

Thanks for checking out my card project (and for putting up with my narrative leading to it)!