Christmas Cards

Now that my Craft shows are over I have time to work on Christmas cards! I found a similar card on Pinterest by a Shelley M. I changed up the papers based on what I had.  For this card I changed the placement of the snowflake.

I colored the image with Copic markers.  It is hard to see in the photos, but I added some Glaze pens to the stars, beads and poofy thing on the hat as well as to the eyes and mouth. Then I added some Moonlight White Archival Brilliance ink to the scalloped circle using a sponge dauber.

For the snowflake I only had these 3 snowflake punches. I wanted a few different patterns on my snowflake. 

So I punched one of the orange and red snowflake punch. When I got to the purple punch first I punched it out with red, then again 1 time plus an extra "arm" with kraft. For the kraft one I cut the snowflake apart then layered it onto the snowflake as shown.

Then for the red snowflake I cut it smaller by cutting two of the "bumps" on each "arm". I then added it to the top of the snowflake and added a pearl to the center. 

Over all I am happy with the card. I'm just not sure about the snowflake placement. I plan on making another and I will play with the snowflake placement.

I am scheduling my card posts until after Christmas so the receivers don't see them ahead of time. ☺

Skinny Notebooks

I have been hard at work getting items made for upcoming craft shows! Just a little over a week until my first show and 2 weeks until the second. I am still looking for one more event. Anyway currently I am making some skinny notepads. These are perfect for jottibg down ideas for gifts, or your Holiday dinner grocery list. They also come with matching RSVP pens. I forgot to take a photo of the insides. I will have to do that for the next round. The snowman head is by Endless Creations, the reindeer is by Fun Stampers Journey and the gingerbread man is by Stampin Up! The sentiments are all by Papertrey Ink. Images were all colored with my Copic markers. 

Bloom Box with a Twist - Love Grows

 I started getting Fun Stampers Journey's Bloom Box, which is a monthly kit, a few months ago. Honestly I have issues followi g directions. (I know, I know it isn't only true in cardmaking!) 

Anywho..... One of the kits came with the "Love Grows" stamp set. In the kits they include some of the supplies needed to make 4 cards (no inks). This is one of the cards that came with this particular card. You were supposed to make a Gatefold card and use the Pumpkin Bread strip of cardstock to make a belly band:

 Well...I really wasn't feeling this card. I sat staring at it for a few days. I finally ended up trimming the card down and adding it to a piece of kraft cardstock. I cut down the pumpkin bread card stock and made it into a banner and then added a second kraft banner. For the square vocal point I switched the pot they used and slid it over on the Butter Cream cardstock then using a mask I added a second flower pot. I also changed the cactus they used and stamped it using my Cajun Craze inkpad (Stampin Up). I used Copics markers to color the pots and dirt. Then I double stamped the sentiment. I ended up not using the twine or button on my card. I didn't have any gold silk that was used on the original so I grabbed a piece of wax paper dabbed a little bit of orange Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink, then added some Frost White All-Purpose ink and mixed them together. I used a paintbrush to tap it onto the card. It didn't work as well as FSJ's Silks, but it turned out okay.

Happy Birthday Twins!

On Sunday we celebrated the birth of two crazy amazing boys! We love these two boys and there is an ongoing joke that my daughter is the "girlfriend" of one of the boys. So of course she asked me to make cards for them both. Unfortunately the past couple of weeks I have been "out of it" as a side effect from some new medicine. I have been having stomach aches, and I haven't been able to focus on anything and I have been exhausted all the time. So making this card was a little difficult. The sad thing is that it was a card from a past Fun Stampers Journey Bloom Box. So I pretty much just had to stamp, cut, and follow directions. Easy right? Well....it took me a day and a half to make it!! The stamp set is called "Deer Friends" by Fun Stampers Journey.  I did change up some of the colors as I used what I had. I colored the deer and the hedgehog using my Copic Markers. 

The day before the birthday party my daughter saw my Lawn Fawn "Hippo Birdie"  (also known as Lawn Fawn Year Four) stamp set sitting on my craft desk and she got excited and asked me to make her BF a hippo card. So.... the next morning I got up and made a new card!   I used "Hippo Birdie" as well as "Elphie Selfie" both by Lawn Fawn I did some masking as wall as paper piecing and I added the hole border using my Stampin Up "Paper Piercing Pack Essentials"and piercing tool. I made the hat with Stampin Up's tree punch thwn I trimmed it to fit. For the sentiment I actually cut my stamp apart since I didn't want the sentiment to be all on one line. I colored eveeything with my Copic markers and then added some shine to the candles using my Gelly Roll pens. I like how this one turned out. 

Masculine Thank you

My children have been very lucky in that they have an amazing bus driver! I can't tell you how many times he has looked out for them! How many times he was running ahead of schedule, or I was running behind, and he has pulled the bus to the side of the road and waited for me to get the kids to him. He has pulled out in front of the house and waited a few minutes while they ran out to him. He has also on occasion dropped them off closer to the house, when he could, during bad weather. And then of course the fact that he makes sure they get to and from school safely. I drove kids back and forth to school for 8 years, and let me tell you, it is a thankless job!!! For this reason I always makes sure to get him a little something for Christmas as well as the end of the year. Of course I had to make a handmade card to go along with his little something-something.
I know it isn't colorful, and this isnt rhe best photo, but I realized last minute that my daughter needed to deliver it tomorrow, on her last day of 8th grade.
The boat is stamped then heat embossed withl.p. black powder. The grey patterned papwrs were from a stack I had on hand. The sentiment is from Fun Stampers Journey "Little BIG Greetings". I punched the sentiment out, layered it on another circle then adhered it hanging off the page and trimmed it down.

Another Card Sketch

I have been in my craftroom for hours today. Here it is after midnight, and I only managed to complete 1 card! I can't focus today, maybe it's my headache, or the fact that I have Strep Throat. I'm not sure. 

Anyway I bought this stamp set from the Heirloom Rubber Stamp show in Allentown this past April. It's by Right At Home stamps and it comes with some really nice sentiments. I was trying to do something else, but it didn't work out the way I wanted. I am going to try again when I feel better. 

Okay so back to the card, I stamped the sentiment in versamark then used black embossing powder to heat emboss it. This was layered on a dark teal mat then on a black card. Then I used Copics to color in the image.  I used Jennifer Dove's (from "Just4funCrafts.blogspot) color combo called "Pacific Blue" featuring BG02, BG05 and BG09. The background was stamped with Fun Stampers Journey  (FSJ) "Scrupt" heat embossed with clear with sparkles enbossing powder. I crumbled up the lighter teal piece and added it on. The bakers twine and flowers as well as the center of the flower (which members of the old Cricut message Board nicknamed "Skittles") were all items I had on hand. The Skittle in the center of the flower is held on using Crystal Effects. 

The sketch is from Alwaysplayingwithpaper's Challenge #5 from April 2014.