Love for MOM

Hi everyone!  Sorry I've been missing for a little while; life just got in the way a bit.  BUT now I'm back with a lovely little Mother's Day card for this weeks' Card A Day Blog theme.  I had some great fun with Washi Tape on this one, as well as a leftover flower and a butterfly from earlier projects.

I started by pulling several reds from my washi collection and laid a strip of each on a backing paper.  I cut the bottom into a banner 'v' and mounted it on a layer of white with double-sided tape and then on a layer of red with foam tape.  I then added that piece to the card base with the top edges flush to the top of the base.

I stamped the greeting with black ink on white, and then die cut it for a nice shape.  I used the next size nesting die to cut a backing layer in red.  I affixed these pieces together, and then used foam tape for layered mounting.  I colored the flower pieces and lightly colored the butterfly both with Pan Pastels, and gave them some rhinestones for a bit of sparkle.

I wanted to bring just a touch of red to the inside of the card, so I applied a narrow strip to the inside before stamping the sentiment, also in black.  Sorry it looks a little off-kilter; card wouldn't lay flat for the photo.

And that's it; really quite simple.

I hope you've enjoyed my card today; always love a comment!  And don't forget our giveaway at Beccy's Place.  I'll be back tomorrow with another card I created using Beccy's designs -- commenting there, as long as you're a follower of my blog, gives you another chance to win.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope the rest of your day is simply fabulous!!!

'Til next time.....
BIG Hugs!!!
CHRISTINE

A Christmas Bouquet

Welcome!!  I'm so happy you've come to visit.  As today's designer for the Card A Day Blog I have a fun gift card holder to show you for our theme of Christmas Gift Cards.  I had seen some variations on this card style some time ago, so I knew right away what my design would be.  Now, if you have a good imagination you might see some poinsettias, but if you're like me you'll see a pretty pot filled with lovely Christmas-y red flowers.

Let's start with the empty flower pot.  I wanted my card to fit into a standard A2 sized envelope so I had a bit of figuring to do.  I cut the single sided patterned card stock at 8 1/4" x 4 1/2".  It could have been wider, but I wanted the card to look balanced.  Any wider would just look strange.  I scored at 1 1/8" from either end and right in the center at 4 1/8".  I folded the piece in half, then tapered the two sides, leaving tabs on the front to attach the front and back together.  The two scored ends are folded to the outside creating the rim of the flower pot.  I taped the ends down lightly; then secured them with a pretty red ribbon.  You could also cover the white with different paper as desired.

For the actual card holder, I used a coordinating piece of card cut at 4" x 3 3/4" with the design side to the back, and the top corners rounded.  I used an old gift card to measure for the corners that would hold the new gift card, and made the corners from a scrap of green card.  I used the same green for the die cut leaves and several red scraps to die cut the flowers.

I layered the flowers using liquid glue, then affixed them with thin foam tape.  I added the leaves, some pearls for the centers, and, just for fun, a little white dove.  I was careful when placing the flowers not to let them overlap the top edge too much (needing the keep to the 4 1/4" card size), and to be sure the card went easily into the base.  Here's a photo with the gift card inserted:

You can see the 'flower pot' next to the insert.  Here is a closer look at the flowers:

All you do is insert the gift card and slip that piece into the base 'flower pot'.  A greeting or signature can be written on the card before the gift card is inserted.

So that's it.  You can easily adjust the sizes if you want a bigger bunch of flowers, as well as changing up your papers and colors for any season.  By the way, this was another card created entirely from scraps!  This time I didn't even plan it that way; the right sized pieces just happened to be right where I needed them.

I hope you'll have lots of fun making your gift card holders, and thank you so very much for stopping by today!!

'Til next time.....

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE

Let Your Light Shine

Hi everyone!  So happy to have you visit today.  We've been having so many bright, sunny days around here in the central U.S.  So, as today's designer for the Card A Day Blog, using the theme of "With Faith"  I decided to go along with the idea of light.  Also, since my ds arrived today for a visit, this card became a little bit of a collaboration.

At the time ds arrived, I already had my basic concept for the card, and had some of the elements prepared as well.  Here is your first look at the card:

I used a blue card stock for the background, and used a border design embossing folder inked with Versamark to give the embossing some extra dimension.  The cross and the sentiment were stamped onto the same blue card, and embossed using Versamark and silver embossing powder.  I used a Versamarker and the same embossing powder to frame the sentiment.  The sentiment piece was die cut and the cross was cut by hand.

A bit of ribbon was attached to the background piece, and the sentiment and cross were both layered using foam tape.

On the inside I simply stamped the cross with the watermark ink for a very subtle look, then stamped and embossed the greeting with the silver powder.

Here is a closer shot of the inside:

Probably the trickiest part in making this card was getting the embossing just right on the background paper.  I had to be sure the paper was cut for a perfectly (almost) symmetrical fit.  I also had to be aware of which side of the folder should be inked.  So if you try this technique, just be sure to consider whether you want to ink the embossed side or the debossed side.

 
When preparing the elements for this design, I started thinking about all the different occasions for which this card might be used.  It seems appropriate for get well, birthday, certainly for Easter, or simply to let someone know you've been thinking about them.  I'm sure you could think of even more ideas.

I truly appreciate having you take time out of your day to visit.  You always put a smile on my face!!

'Til next time.....

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE

A Birthday HI!

"Milestone Birthdays"  That's our theme this week at the CARD A DAY BLOG.  My inspiration for this theme is a family member (name withheld to protect the innocent-heehee) who is celebrating quite a milestone birthday soon.....eight decades of life upon this glorious earth with no signs of slowing down!!

I must admit, my dh and dd helped me come up with the concept for my card.  I was able to take their general idea, and run with it.  I started by printing the inside sentiment directly onto the card base.  Here is your first look:

 

I knew I had a stamp of a pick-up truck with various stamps for truckloads.  I wanted to go with  hearts, flowers or a pile of gifts.  DD like the hearts, so I went with that idea.

 

I needed a road for the truck, and found a nice paper scrap to represent the road surface and a stamp that worked great for the center stripe of the road.  Of course, the speed limit had to be the age of the recipient, so I made the appropriate road sign. Also, I had some scraps of grass that were perfect to add to the side of the road.

 



I had started out with a plain white card base, and when I knew what the layout would be I chose a nice blue for the background sky. 



 The sentiment, speed sign and truck were all affixed with foam tape.

Once I had everything assembled I added a tiny rhinestone on the sentiment tag and some larger rhinestones as wheel covers on the truck.

Here is a close shot of the outside greeting:

 And, finally, here is the full card.

 I hope my family member enjoys the overall sentiment of this card, and I hope you like it, too!  If you have questions about any of the supplies used, please feel free to ask me in the comments section.  As usual, I added plenty of labels for reference.

 

'Til next time; thanks for stopping by!!

Big HUGS!

CHRISTINE

It'll Be Okay

Happy mid-week everyone!  I'm designer of the day over at the CARD A DAY BLOG.  This is a week of using some kind of embossing but without a specific theme.  So, I have a little rainy day card for you using both wet and dry embossing.  It's a cute little card, and really quite easy to make.

I decided to start with an embossing folder, and build my card around whatever design I chose.  In this case, I chose a cloud folder.  I knew I had at least one stamp that was handy that I could use with clouds for a background.  I used my Cuttlebug to emboss a piece of vellum with the clouds, and then picked a dark blue mat to give an overall look of a very gray day.  Just to keep things a bit neutral, I chose kraft card for my base.

I stamped my focal image and my sentiment on white with Versamark ink and embossed with black powder.  The embossing gave a nice outline to color in, which I did very simply using Copics in cheery colors.  I also gave the sentiment a bit of shading with the same blue Copic marker.

I then die cut the two pieces using a slightly fancy die for the label and a die that complemented the look of the clouds for the image.

Not wanting any glue or tape to show behind the vellum I simply used brads to affix the label and vellum to the mat.  I then used foam tape to affix the image piece to the vellum as well as the mat onto the base.

In all this was a relatively quick card to put together.  I got a slightly late start on creating, so quick was a good thing for me today. (heehee)

As always, thanks so much for coming by.  I do hope you enjoyed your visit!

Here are just a few details:
     Paper:  Gina K Designs "In the Navy"
     Brads:  Bo Bunny "Bodacious Brads" in Buttercup
     Embossing Powder:  Stampendous  "Detail Black"
     Stamps:  Pure Innocence for My Favorite Things "My Umbrella"
     Dies:  Spellbinders and Lifestyle Crafts
     Embossing Folder:  Darice "Clouds"
     Markers:  Copics Y04 (Acacia), B24 (Sky), E00 (Skin White), R11 (Pale Cherry Pink)

That's it for now --- see you again soon!!

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE

Whale, what d'ya know!!

Hello friends!  I hope all my USA buddies had a wonderful Independence Day celebration.  We had a nice quiet day at home, so I used the time to make a cute little card.  It just happens to be red, white and blue, although it's not the patriotic colors.  This time I made a fun card for a new challenge site.  It's called House of Cards, and it just started on the first of this month.  They have four different themes each month, and their first theme is 'cute and fun.'  They have a color inspiration for this first week, and at least three of the colors must be used.

                             

I've been wanting to use a new stamp and die set that I've had for a little while, so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity.  Here is the card (made all from scraps):

 

I really like the fun Lifestyles Crafts border die for the water.

And here is a pic of the supplies I used:

I really enjoyed making this card; it was one of my quickest cards ever!  ;)  I hope you enjoyed it, too.

 

Thanks for stopping by today.  See you again soon!

Big HUGS!!
CHRISTINE

Hi!

Hey there, folks!  Well, I don't usually do more than one post during a given theme for the Card A Day Blog, but this week is an exception.  I have a second inspiration for you during this 'friendship' week that I hope you will enjoy.  Once again, except for the card base, all my pieces were leftovers/scraps.  Even my central image, a wonderful digital design by Guy Gondron for an internet class I took awhile back on coloring with Copics, was a leftover image just waiting for the right project.  So, since I have used a digi design on this card, I am entering it into the Seasonal Fun Challenge (must use a digital design) at CDAC.  I haven't mentioned this before, but I've been having a real issue with arthritis in my right hand so that I am scarcely able to write, let alone color, for any extended time.  Fortunately, I had colored this image at the time of the class, and here is my card!

When I was browsing through a collection of images I had previously printed out (or even colored), I came upon this cute turtle.  I couldn't help thinking first, how cute he looks peering up at that little ladybug flying by his head, and second, how much he reminded me of a turtle my hubby encountered in our yard one day and brought into the house for us to see.  Of course, we immediately named him;  Bartholomew T. Turtle.  I decided to use a kraft card base to mimic sand, and put Bartholomew in a little grassy area right by the sand.  For the grass I used two different dies (One from Impression-Obsession and the other, I think, from Lifestyle Crafts) to cut my green scraps.  Here is a close shot of the coloring and the grass:

Since I didn't want Bartholomew to look lonely on the card, I decided to put a nice frame around him.  I actually used a test cut that I had saved from an earlier project.  When choosing the colors for the frame, I wanted to highlight the color of the little ladybug.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in "Spiced Marmalade" and "Ripe Persimmon" to add the color to the frame.  Also, I wanted to have some dimension on the card, so I layered the grasses and the frame with foam tape.  Here is an angled pic for you which shows the dimension:

 

Finally, I stamped the simple greeting, and left the inside blank so there is lots of room to write a nice message to a favorite friend.  The stamp came from a set called "Happy Messages" by Stampendous, and was stamped with Versamark "Onyx Black."

If you have some friends you haven't seen or spoken with for awhile, why not put together a few cute cards and write them a 'happy message?'  Everyone loves to open their mailbox to find a lovely greeting card waiting to be enjoyed.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you're enjoying a wonderful weekend!!

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE