Tag Topper Card & Hershey Eggs

Today, I was busy in my craft room before I went to see my handsome little nephew.  First, I made two Hershey Eggs.  The eggs I created by looking at a tutorial for a tea cup and the picture of the eggs.  They turned out exactly like the picture and I didn't have to buy the tutorial which made it even better.  I will be sending one to each of my Secret Pals for Easter.  Once those were finished, I created my mom's birthday's card.  Her card was created using the scalloped tag topper punch from Stampin UP.  I love how this card has to be untied to be opened.  I hope my mom enjoy opening her birthday card this year and reading the message inside.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

Hershey Eggs

Tag Topper Card

Tutorial for the Card:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAVN9OTerI

Sending Sympathy and Prayers...

Today my family said goodbye to a wonderful person that I am glad that I got to know.  Unfortunately, I could not make it to the funeral, but I am going to send a card to show them that I am thinking about them during this difficult time.  It is never easy to say goodbye to someone you love and it makes it even harder when it is your sister or daughter.  As hard as it is to day goodbye to a love one, I feel that making a sympathy is just as hard.  It took me a little searching to figure out how I wanted to make my card.  The original idea came from Terry Morelli, but I changed it a little bit to make it my own.  The card turned out great and I hope that my family gets through this difficult time.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

Just Another Lazy Sunday

Sundays are our day to be lazy and do absolutely nothing.  It is a great way to start the week.  Having to make a card is always in the plans for a lazy Sunday, but it something I enjoy doing so it is never a hassle. Today's creation is part of an order that I received last week for their Grandma.  After looking at Pinterest for a few ideas, I came across some inspiration and decided to use my Silhouette to create this card.  It came together very nicely.  When I was finished with the card, I decided to add the butterflies as something extra since I felt like there was too much open space.  I hope her Grandma enjoys her card as well as her birthday on Saturday.  Until next time, happy carding everyone!

Thanks so much to someone that makes others happy!

After having the past two days off and returning to school today, it was like we were returning from break again.  The students were excited to be back and tell us all about their 4 day vacation.  They were not very impressed by the subzero temperatures either, but they enjoyed having two snow days in a row.  Since I was completely exhausted from a wonderful day at school, I decided to make a Peek-A-Boo Message Card that I saw on Julie Davidson's blog.  She has a wonderful tutorial so I will put the link at the bottom of my blog instead of boring you with all of the details.  This card turned out super cute though.  I love how all of the colors and designer paper coordinate together.  I will have to make another card like this one for my Stampin UP Secret Pal.  Until next time, happy carding everyone!

Front of the Card

Hidden Message

Link to video tutorial:  http://juliedavison.blogspot.com/2013/09/video-peek-boo-message-card-tutorial.html

Thank You!

Tonight's creation was another simple card.  Using my Bitty Butterfly punch, I punched out three butterflies and then used my circle framelits to cut them out.  I then cut out pattern paper to go behind the butterflies so that they popped off the paper a little more.  To give the butterflies antennas, I stamped the antenna from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and then put rhinestones at the ends.  Finishing my card, I stamped "thank you" from the Sassy Salutations stamp set.  This card came together very well even though it was pretty simple to create.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

Hello!

Being a Stampin UP demonstrator has a lot of great benefits and one is being able to order new product before the customers.  Today I got my pre-order shipment for the catalog that starts on January 1st as well as the free products that you can earn for every $50 that you spend during our Sale-A-Bration promotion starting January 28th.  Since UPS showed up super early for once, I was able to use a few of my new products on tonight's creation.

Using my Basic Gray ink, I stamped the outline of the label love and then punched it out using the coordinating punch.  I then stamped the "hello" banner from the new Perfect Pennants stamp set.  Using the banner framelit, I cut out the "hello" banner.  The banner framelits comes with several different size banners that can be cut out using the Big Shot.  I then embossed the overlay with one of the free items that can earned during the Sale-A-Bration promotion.  To finish my card, I punched out three butterflies using the Bitty Butterfly punch.  This card was inspired from Pinterest and I loved how I changed it to make it my own creation.  It turned out great and I love how the new products all came together with the products that I already have.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

Dahlias

All week I have been preparing for the Craft Show on Saturday.  I have made 90 cards in the past 6 days and it has been a lot of work, but I have enjoyed every minute of it.  Making cards is a passion of my mine and it is a lot of fun.  I hope that I can share my passion with people at the Craft Show.  Tonight's creation was inspired/cased from Cynthia Millan, it is very similar but different at the same time.  Let's discuss tonight's card.

Using my trimmer, I cut a piece of card stock that would fit the thinlit.  I then used the Circle Thinlit from Stampin UP to create the base of the card.  The card stock was cut extra long so there was an extra flip for someone to write a message.  Once the base was cut out, I punch out 2.5" and 2" circles.  I then used the Regarding Dahlias stamp set to stamp the flower and "hello, you" onto the card.  After the was finished, I punched out butterflies using the Bitty Butterfly Punch and placed two pearls in the center of them.  Once everything was put together, I embossed the colored strip of paper and adhered it to the card.  Even though this card was cased, it turned out wonderful and it has to be one of my favorite cards that I made this week.   I could use this card for a few different occasions or to simply let someone know that I am thinking about them.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

If Friends Were Like Flowers

After spending most of the day grocery shopping and going to a local apple orchard, I found myself in need of a nap before creating tonight's remarkable creation.  Once I was re-energized, I decided to make some Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate cookies before deciding on a creation for this evening.  Now that you are filled on today's events, let's get to the creation.

Tonight's card was inspired by a card that I found while looking through Stampin Connection website for demonstrators.  I changed it up a bit to make it my own and using supplies from my station.  Using a stamp that I purchased this summer from a rummage sale, I stamped three flower squares onto white card stock.  I then stamped three butterflies onto light purple paper and using my Bitty Butterfly punch to cut them out.  Once the flower squares were dried, I used my handy scissors to cut them out as my square punch was too big.  I then decided to use one of my pre-made cards to place the elements on.  Arranging the square on my card, I choose to make them look like a stair case and then arranged the butterflies around them.  Once they were in place and glued down, I stamped "If friends were like flowers, I'd pick you" thus completing tonight's creation.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

Thank You!

After a shortened work with Labor Day taking away Monday last week, I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into another week of school.  Turns out it was quite a manic Monday, keeping busy with meetings and a full day of teaching at school I had little time to myself when I got home.  It seemed as quickly as I arrived home, I had to turn around and run back out the door to go to Baraboo.  I was officially orientated as Stampin Up Demonstrator today, which while it was a time consuming process to learn new things after the day that was a Monday at school: I was thankful to be given the opportunity to learn something new.  Enough of the chatter and onward with the skinny on tonight's remarkable creation.

Using my Silhouette, I cut out all the required pieces for the card.  As this was the simplest part of tonight's creation I wonder what it would be like if I didn't have a Silhouette.  My hands would ache, and I'm certain the blogs would be a lot shorter (thus hands aching from card cutting).  Once the pieces were cut out I then used my butterfly stamp and made three equal butterflies to place on the card.  After punching the butterflies I scored them down the middle to give them a more 3-D appearance to essentially let them flutter off the card into the summer night.  I then used a custom cut light blue overlay and began placing them onto the card.  While the final card was a modification of what I had envisioned through a card I pinned on Pinterest, I was quite satisfied with the results.  There are few areas that I can see room for improvement, but for a 30 minute card it's not half bad if I do say so myself.  Onto bed until next time, happy carding everyone :)

My Deepest Sympathy

In time of sympathy words sometimes escape us, and so this is why we give sappy cards. Not to speak ill of those who have lost or those who have passed but I find that a sympathy card is one of the hardest cards to make.  Thankfully I have not lost many people in my life, but as a matter of fact it happens and cards are required.  Upon returning to school I was informed that one of the teachers I taught with during my first year lost her son in a motorcycle accident, a terrible tragedy and loss for her as he was still quite young.  As a dedication to her, I am planning on giving this card to her out of my condolences for her loss.

Tonight's card was cut out with the Silhouette it really looks bare, without any leaves (very similar to what we will see around these parts soon enough) but to add a bit of flavor I added butterflies.  They were punched with my Bitty Butterfly Punch, and then using my Simply Scored Board (an early birthday present from mom) I scored lines on both sides of the torso of the butterflies.  This helped give them a more 3-D appearance when I attached them to the card with glue dots, glue dots are best for something this small as adhesive requires a lot of attention to detail and a simple dot of glue really makes it easy.  When it comes to sympathy cards, as explained in previous blogs it's best to use softer colors.  This is very much like painting a baby room light blue or an off shade of pink, as a creative individual I choose these colors to please ones eyes.  Keeping a calm mood through out the card, to keep the viewer at ease with the situation that is being acknowledged through this card.  Thus why I chose a light pink base with a white overlay, I also made my butterflies a variety of shades including; light green, light blue, and light purple.  I topped this card with my "with sympathy" stamp in a light pink to match the underlay.

So even though a somber mood is associated with this card I hope that the recipient enjoys the peaceful tranquility, and can remember the positives of the loss of her son.  Until next time, happy carding everyone.

Thank You!

On yet another seasonally warm summer day, my fiance and I paid a visit to his parents house to assist in fixing his father's car.  While the boys played outside, my future mother-in-law and I hung out inside enjoying every bit of air conditioning that we could get.  So while the bulk of the day was spent inside, the afternoon hours grew into early evening I knew another simple card was in order.  Recently I have been on a Pinterest kick finding all sorts of cool ideas to base my cards off of.  It is a way to make things easier when someone else's creative gets my hamster wheel turning.  Time to explain how I made tonight's creation.

Since I was feeling lazy after spending the day away from home, I decided to go with a per-cut card.  Using my Mosaic punch, I punched out four colored designer paper ornaments.  Now using a solid color paper, I then used my Bitty Butterfly punch.  Once the butterflies took shape I used glue dots and placed them in the center of my multi-color ornaments.  Then I attached the finished pieces to my base card evenly spacing them on the bottom in no particular order.  To wrap up the card, I stamped "thank you" above the ornaments on the right side.  I could have tied this card together with ribbon and bow, but I took the easy way out and now have a finished creation.  Weather it is remarkable or not it is much like art "it in the eye of the beholder."  Until next time, happy carding everyone!

Window Pane Card

Today, I spent a significant about of time in my classroom trying to turn my destruction zone into a quality learning environment.  It seems like just yesterday that I was packing up my classroom for summer vacation and now I am going in reverse and unpacking it for the start of another school year.  I can't wait to be done with this busy body work and I look forward to putting my best foot forward for the upcoming year.  Since I spent the day at school, I lacked motivation to make a more challenging card again tonight.  Once the school year officially starts I think it will be in my best interest to plan out my cards for the week.  This way I avoid cheating on the challenge that I presented myself.  Using a window pane technique, I put my Silhouette to use as I do not have the appropriate punch to complete this card.  I created a square that measured 3-1/4" on each side.  To make the window pane I then drew four 1-1/4" scalloped circles.  The toughest part was lining them up so that each side was evenly space.  A benefit to using my Silhouette I was able to use the rulers as guides and to adjust as need.  Creating an overlay that was the same dimensions as the card base once it was folded in half, helping me emboss an individual piece and not the whole card.  After I embossed the overlay, I cut out another using patterned paper for placement underneath the window pane.  Using dimensionals when adhering the window pane would have been ideal, but unfortunately I left mine at a workshop.  Putting the finishing touches on my card, I punched out four butterflies with the Bitty Butterfly Punch.  To give the effect of butterfly landing I scored each on both sides of the wings then I placed them on the card with adhesive.  Until next time, happy carding everyone!