Cardinal

Coming up with ideas for cards for men is always difficult to for me.  As I was sorting through my scrap pile the other night, I found some good papers for a “man” card but I couldn’t figure out what to do with them until I remembered some Father’s' day clip art I had.  I used this cardinal from PcCrafter’s Father’s Day collection.  The technique is reverse iris folding with 3D decoupage.  I really like the way it turned out.

I had always wanted to do this picture in 3-D decoupage, but the thought of all of the detailed cutting kept me from it.  The reverse iris folding gives the card depth without all of the intricate cutting.  After finishing the iris folding, all that was left to cut out was the bird and the branch.  I just love how he pops out of the frame!

What’s On Your Work Table?

I do not like to throw scraps away and I don’t like to file them either.  So, they accumulate in a pile on my desk.  About once a week, or more often if needed, I sort them by color and put them in an accordion file.

This evening, as I looked at my growing pile of scraps, I decided to see what I could make with them so I wouldn’t have to file them.  I ended up with two cards and a slightly smaller scrap pile.  Here’s the first one:

It was really simple and quick.  The rainbow colored paper is the result of my playing with alcohol inks last Saturday afternoon.  I think it made very pretty butterflies, don’t you?  I used a Martha Stewart butterfly border punch for the border and a Sizzix medium butterfly die for the large butterfly.  The flower was cut using the Nestabilities Blossom Two set.

I will share the other card I made tomorrow.

Pink, Purple and Green, Oh My!

I had some free time last Sunday afternoon, so I visited the Sketches thread over at Just Cards for some inspiration.  I decided upon one with diamond shapes across the top.  Here is my rendition:

The background was made using alcohol inks.  I cut the diamonds using a Coluzzle nested diamonds template.  The embossing was done with a brass template I’ve had for ages.  I was feeling lazy, so I did the embossing by running it through my Cuttlebug with the Nestabilities embossing pad.  It worked very well, but it did curl my template a bit.  I was able to flatten it back out though so no harm done.  After embossing, I used pink distress ink to make the pattern stand out.

Layered Tea Bag Fold Medallions

I am terrible with tea bag tiles.  I will print them out, and sometimes even cut them out, and then not use them.  I have a notebook full of pre-printed pre-cut tiles that has been gathering dust on my bookshelf.  Today I grabbed that notebook and told myself that I had to make something from my pre-printed tiles.  I looked through my collection and found some tiny green and orange ones that looked very spring-like and decided to start with those.  Here is the end result:

The tiles for this medallion are 3/4” which is kind of small for tea bag folding, but works perfectly for this medallion. The medallion has three layers and I used a simple kite fold for everything except the center, which is a layered star.

Birthday Cupcake

Here’s a birthday card I made for my granddaughter.  The papers are from ProvoCraft’s Super Slab by Rob and Bob Studios.  I chose these colors because they are what she wears most. The ribbon is from Michael’s.

Here’s the cupcake pattern for the paper piecing.  I drew it with OpenOffice.org Draw.  Feel free to use it if you want, but please do not post it on another website or group.

 

Best Friends Forever

I got the idea for this card while thumbing through an old Cardmaker magazine.  The card in the magazine had the pop-up window like this, but just had a flat scene inside the window.  I wanted to give it a bit more of a 3-D look, so I used this cute clip art from PcCrafter’s Friends Forever collection.

Here’s a close-up:

 

I carefully cut out the girls on the swing and saved the tree and bunny for the window background.  I glued string to the backs of the swing ropes and taped the ends of the string to the back side of the window opening so that the swing really swings.  For the window background, I cut a picket fence with a Sizzix picket fence steel rule die and added the tree and bunny and some green paper to resemble grass.

I used the paper from window cut-out on the front of the card to frame the sentiment.

Spring String!

Four cards today.  Some Spring string art cards (aka Spirelli) I made.  I printed these on cardstock using this pattern then cut them out and chalked them to give them extra color. 

 

 

They really aren’t as bad to cut out as you may think.  I cut the leaves out using scalloped scissors.

Sparkly Blue Butterfly

I love butterflies, don’t you?  This one is from Stampin’ up!  I stamped it onto vellum with blue pigment ink and embossed it with holographic embossing powder.

The vellum is kind of unusual as it has a textured weave so that it almost resembles Aida cloth.  It’s really pretty.  The background paper is leftover from another project, so I’m not sure where I got it.  I like the bright colors, though.

Friends

I have loads of scraps and loads of die-cuts.  So when I sat down to make this card, I grabbed a box of die cuts and told myself I had to use something from the box and that I couldn’t use anything but scraps for the background.  I had no idea how it would turn out.

When I got done, I liked it so much that I sent it to a dear friend with whom I have been exchanging cards and ideas for several years now.  She truly is one of the flowers in my friendship garden!

Welcome Spring!

It has been a long, wet Winter and I am very ready for some springtime flowers!  Here’s a card I made for a swap I was in over at Just Cards.

I cut the watering can aperture using the Sizzix watering can steel rule die.  I kept the punch-out from the middle of the handle and glued it in place after finishing the iris folding.  The folding was done using my basic triangle template. I used gift wrap for the iris folding papers.  The large flowers are from ProvoCraft and the little flower on the watering can is from Making Memories.  For the water drops, I punched a couple daisies from blue paper and cut the petals apart. 

Happy Birthday Mouse

Well, it has been a very busy few months.  I’ve been making cards, but haven’t had time to post.  I’ll start out with a card I made last fall.  It is based on a sketch Norma posted at Just Cards. I love sketches because they often give me the opportunity to try something new.  I hadn’t done a lot with torn paper or distress ink prior to this.  It really does give the card a whole new look.

The mouse is from PCCrafter’s Gratefall Critters collection.