Sunday, January 11, 2015

Circle Punch Christmas Tree Swing Card



The swing card base is a die from Stampin' Up!


The bases to these cards were made last year
as a fun way to give my kids money.
See this post here for the fun idea I came up with.
They didn't keep them, so
this year I added a new stamped circle to the back of the swing part
and the fun circle punch tree to the front.
Below are some photos that show how I made the tree.






The crinkling, separating of the layers is not necessary.
I did it to give the card stock more texture
and to make it thinner, easier to fold.






Fold the circle in half to give yourself a center mark.
Fold the sides in at the center mark.
The top point/fold starts at the mark then you
bring the rounded side in the meet along the center line.


I added a dab of glue at the tops of each section
so the lower "branches" would still be loose,
easy to fiddle with to make them "fluffy".












I didn't take a "how to" photo of painting the branches,
but it is easy. I used white acrylic craft paint and
a small paint brush to dab white onto the tips. Once dry,
I fluffed out the "branches" a bit.

You could take the tree a step farther by decorating it with
teeny, tiny punched pieces of colored paper or
dabs of glitter glue and paint.


Thanks for looking =)



Saturday, January 10, 2015

Nature's Christmas Card


 
Using a really old stamp set from Stampin' Up!
(I think it is called Nature's Christmas)
and copying an idea from an old catalog,
I made this card and matching envelope to send
to a family member last Christmas.
 
It was a nice flat card requiring no extra postage.
 
I stamped the images with Basic Black ink onto
Naturals card stock then water colored them in with
ink from ink pads using an Aquapainter.
 
Real Red and Handsome Hunter card stock layers.
 
 
Thanks for looking =)

Friday, January 9, 2015

Embossed Christmas Card


I made two of these cards to mail out last Christmas,
idea inspired by a Stampin' Up! catalog.

All supplies used were from Stampin' Up!.
though they are now retired.

The raised areas of the embossed card front
were lightly painted with PearlEx paint.


Thanks for looking =)

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Christmas Card I Received

What a beautiful Christmas card I received this past holiday !
I love it !
I'm sure all the supplies used on it were from Stampin' Up!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Birthday Card I Received




What a sweet card I received for my birthday last month.
Such a cute image, happy colors
and great details - I love it !

Monday, January 5, 2015

Christmas Cards - storebought!

 
Now that we have a new desktop computer up and running
(we were without for three weeks in December),
I can finally get back to posting to the blog.
There are several things I made last month I want to share
as well as some cards I received and a couple of photos I took.
 
 
This first card I am sharing was actually from a set of premade cards I bought for half price
after Christmas last year. I picked up 4 packages of them for $4 a package (6 cards per pkg).
They looked like something I could have handmade myself:
real buttons, bakers twine, die cut pieces, pop dots on a kraft card stock base.
 
I did cut and stamp cream pieces of paper for the inside since they were blank.
I used a Stampin' Around holly print wheel and a sentiment stamp with
Handsome Hunter and Real Red inks.
I also stamped the envelope with the same wheel and green ink.
 
I didn't mind that they were bulky cards since I was giving them out in person,
no postage required.
 
Some of the cards I did need to mail so I removed the buttons and pop dots,
trying to make them more mail friendly so as not to require extra postage.
In place of the buttons, I used red glitter glue.
 
These premade cards have a nice design, one I hope to remember and put to use
in the future.
 
 
Thanks for looking =)
 
 

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Anything But A Card - New Beginnings Challenge #43


Welcome to the New Beginnings Challenge at

The prompt "New Beginnings" can be interpreted many ways.

My interpretation:
finding new life in what would otherwise be considered trash. 
This particular project reuses a few pieces of "trash";
read on to see what and how I reused them. 







I started off with empty cookie tins that I have had in my stash the past year.
They were too nice to throw away and with no recycling services where
we live, I decided to keep them in hopes of finding a new use for them.
I did reuse some as utensil holders earlier this year.




I  used double stick tape to attach card stock around the can.
It was faster and easier than trying to paint them,
but you certainly could sand and repaint them.






I sketched out the shapes onto scrap paper, 
trimming them to fit.
Once I was happy with the shapes and sizes, 
I traced them onto card stock and cut them out.

The nose and eyes are paper punches.
The eyebrows are also made from a punch, 
but slightly altered (Word Window from Stampin' Up!).

I inked the cheeks and nose with a sponge and ink pad.

White Signo gel pen for eye highlights.


You can run the beard and moustache pieces through the 
Cuttlebug Divine swirls folder after cutting them out or
as I did, run a piece through before cutting them out.
I traced the shapes onto the  card stock first.
If you do this, be sure to run the card stock through
so that the pencil lines are on the back / debossed side
of the card stock.





I used a pop dot / dimensional
under the nose.
The mustache piece is slightly bent
for extra character.


Yes, my santa is "bald": 
I didn't make a large piece of hair
to wrap around the back of his head.








Notice the extra texture on the beard and moustache ?
This was achieved by using an old dryer sheet.
I adhered it to white card stock before running it through
the Cuttlebug embossing folder. 



Completed Santa treat cans,
minus a pom pom on the hat.
The hat was made from a red fleece blanket
and a scrap of white felt.

Inspired by Santa face cards I made years ago-
and still make !









Completed Snowman cans

Inspired by snowman cards I've made years ago.

I used a rubber stamp from a flower making set
to make the nose. 
It was stamped in a lighter orange then
the lower edge was stamped onto a darker orange
before stamping onto white card stock and cut out with scissors.

Circle paper punches for the eyes and mouth.

White Signo gel pen for the eye highlights. 

Scrap of old fleece blanket cut to make the scarf.








How to make the hat:


Trace, cut, score, 
bend and tape
card stock to form a hat,
using a heavy duty double stick tape to hold in place.









Trace circles and cut with scissors or 
if you have dies that are the right sizes,
cut out circles to make the bat brim.
I used some craft foam leftover from 
craft projects from my kids years ago. 
Carefully hot glue the underside near the
bottom edge of the hat.




Lightweight packaging chipboard was die cut
with snowflake dies then coated with glitter. 

Two step bird punch from Stampin' Up!
with paint/ink details
and Martha Stewart fern punch.

Red and white striped ribbon, unknown.
I remember that I ordered it
(along with several other rolls of ribbon)
from an online retailer many years ago -
and have maybe used it one time !






Thanks for looking !
Take a peek at the Anything But A Card blog for much more inspiration every Sunday from the creative team as well as projects shared through inlinks by blog readers.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Favorite Cards from 2014

These are my favorite 14 cards that I made and sent out to family/friends in 2014.
See yesterdays post for my favorite 14 cards made and sent to Operation Write Home.
























































































































 There are no posts/tutorials for the following two cards yet since I had no 
computer for nearly 3 weeks last month. I was unable to make
posts most of last month. I have several things to share that I made.
Of course they are all holiday related so they won't be of any inspiration
for the holidays until next year ;)





THANK YOU for looking =) 






Thursday, January 1, 2015

My Top 14 Cards Created for OWH in 2014

The end of another year, wow. Mom and Dad were right: the older you get, the faster time flies !

Here are my favorite 14 cards of those that I made to donate to Operation Write Home the past year.
They do not include any glitter to keep our heroes safe and I try to make them as flat as possible (difficult at times!) to survive the mail system. What a task to choose just 14 of all that I made (some of which I never even shared on the blog) last year. You can see more by clicking on the Operation Write Home Cards label on my sidebar.

I'll share my favorite cards sent to family and friends (not OWH friendly since they were extra bulky) tomorrow.







My top 14 cards , posted chronologically:





January 20        Chain of Hearts pop up card, tutorial included.
I always include extra paper in each card I make for
Operation Write Home.
It is more important to include extra paper for "interactive"
type cards that don't have much space for writing to begin with.
















February 1     Playing in the mud guy cards created for a challenge to use browns on masculine cards . Click to see a fun motorcycle card, too !
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/02/operation-write-home-card-bowl-2014.html










February 23    Created for a sketch challenge at OWH.
This was the first time I tried to create a word art image
to save as a PNG/digital stamp to use another time.
I also used a scrap of fleece die cut for the heart. Tutorial.

















February 25    Created for the wood grain technique challenge as well as to help fill
 a call for cowboy cards. Several tips on this post,
such as how I make faux rusty tin star embellishments.























March 9    A set of bright cards for a sketch challenge - and a tip for making "faux" layers.
These particular cards are also a favorite from the past year as they were chosen to be used
as the inspiration for a Midweek Throwdown challenge at OWH a bit later in the year:
make a feminine and a masculine version of the same card.


















March 23   Any Hero card created for a sketch challenge. Several tips shared on this post.
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/03/owh-sketch-challenge-217.html














March 26    Purple and yellow challenge - I attempted to use those colors on a masculine card
thinking that there were sure to be many floral type cards submitted! I do try to concentrate on masculine cards more than feminine cards since they seem to be in short supply (as you can see since many of my favorites from this year are guy cards!).
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/03/purple-and-yellow-challenge-flamed.html


















March 31    Faux Sepia tone photo masculine card for a sketch challenge.  One of my all time favorite techniques to do with my car image stamp sets. Tutorial.
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/03/faux-antique-auto-photo-owh-sketch.html















April 3   Card created "fore" the Father's Day Challenge. I really like the layout on this one.
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/04/fore-fathers-day-card.html













May 14th    Created for the Missing You challenge at
Operation Write Home. Fairly simple cards -
other than it was a bit tricky lining up the two step alphabet stamps ;)
Now I understand why clear stamps are preferred by many stampers 
(these are red rubber).















May 24th     Suspended star flip card and tutorial. This card reminded me of Captain America (images of Chris Evans as Captain America popping into your heads, now ? You are welcome !) and was created for the Memorial Day blog hop at OWH.
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/05/suspended-star-flip-card-tutorial.html






















June 3   Sketch challenge card. I love the detailed die used on this fairly simple card.
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/06/sketch-challenge-card.html


















October 7th     Created for the ODBD challenge at OWH:
use snowflakes on a card, but not a Christmas card.
Check out the fun sketch for the peekaboo window placement that I used, too.






















November 4      Suspended heart embossed/letter pressed card for the ODBD challenge at OWH.  Despite how complicated this looks, it isn't too difficult to make and actually is much quicker than water coloring images for many of the cards I make.  Tutorial.
http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/11/suspended-heart-love-card-owh-odbd.html







Be sure to head back to the inlinkz page at Operation Write Home to see many more bloggers sharing their Top 14 of 2014 !

Thanks for looking and Happy, Healthy, Crafty New Year to You !