Cards Galore!

So there have been a few events in my life in the past couple of months that all warranted a hand-made greeting card.  I thought you might like to see what I’ve been up too…


This was a birthday card for my brother-in-law.  I have a hard time with making male cards but I love how this turned out.  I printed out the ship and frame separately from Photoshop so I could have the 3D effect.  The tag I also designed in Photoshop but was inspired from Stamping Up.  You can see more of my “male” cards here.


This was a super easy Thank You card for a family friend.  I love purple and orange together.  Check out some other Thank You Cards.


I made this card for a baby shower.  I really enjoy hand coloring images, especially ones with kids or Precious Moments characters.  Download some free Precious Moments Boy images here.


Another Precious Moments card.  This one I had made for a special anniversary.  I love layering papers, it helps give a card more depth.

 
This card is one of my new favorites.  I had a different version of this card that I had made last year for a friends wedding but my new 2-1 border punch from EK Success really makes this version pop!  The image is a royalty free stock photo that I found and the tag is made by me through Photoshop.  You can’t tell in the photo but both are raised up to be 3D.


More Precious Moments…I think I have a slight obsession!  I made this card using a template from Wendy Bird Designs.  It was great fun to cut up the different papers and arrange them on the different sections of card. 


This was my card to my mother for Mother’s Day this year.  The card is stamped with Stampin’ Up’s “Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel Stamp”.  Love that stamp.  It provides such a great, aged look.  I cut the chick out and made her 3D with pop dot stickers;  embossed the “Oh My God” with my Versarmark Marker and Bronze embossing powder.  If you don’t own a Versamark Marker then get one—it has become my favorite embossing tool!  The half flower on the right side of the card is made like my Accordion Flowers post. 


And my last card for this post.  This was the card from my little guy to his Mamaie (that’s Grandma in Romanian).  Isn’t he sooo talented at just 2 & 1/2?!  LOL.  The image of the little fellow I printed out in Photoshop along with the surrounding frame.  The pretty punch is a 2-1 border and chain punch from eksuccess.  Watch for my next post to see how I used that punch for party décor…

So glad you stopped by to see what I’ve been up too…
Hope we can visit again soon and if you have any questions about how I made any of my cards leave me a comment and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

Happy Cardmaking!

A Birthday Party

Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of being a event planner.  I’ve always wanted to have big, glamorous dinner parties that would we be written about in flashy magazines.  Now that I’ve reached adult maturity (at least somewhat…), I realized that life’s dreams are not always attainable and that sometimes we need to scale them back a bit, but, our new dreams are still fabulous in their own way.  For example I’m not a ever-so-popular event planner but I am a crafter, blogger and learning DIY-er who still gets to share her creations with others.  And the big, glamorous dinner party turns into something I can make, even with a tiny budget, if I just use my creative skills and some imagination. 

Which is exactly what I did for my hubby’s party this year.  I used Photoshop, the dollar store and my own ideas to make his party this year.  Now would be when I show you my fabulous party with pictures that make you drool, except that being that I had some 25+ people over and I was trying to finish setting up before hubby came home (it was a surprise party) that I forgot to take pictures of everything finished…yes I did cry a little when I realized that…but I will share with you the photos I do have and some free printables at the end of this post…

I have a lack of tables in my home.  I would love to have a buffet table that I could set up and decorate but until that day comes I grab what ever little tables I can find and hide and decorate them.  For this party I covered that tables with a white with green polk-a-dot fabric that I had from my own baby shower from 3 years ago.


I cut the fabric up and gave it a swag which I held in place with pinned tissue paper flowers.  I made them like my Napkin Flowers which you can find here. 




I made a birthday subway art and put it into a $3.00 frame that I found at Wal-Mart and set it on the table with my bright green plates and cutlery.

I wrapped my cutlery in a napkin and put the napkin in a napkin ring.  I made the napkin rings by wrapping paper towel holder cardboard tubes in white contact paper.  I then splotched them with green sparkly acrylic paint and glued on a tag that I made in Photoshop and finally added a little jeweled flower.

 As some accents on the tables I had yellow flowers in stemless wine goblets, which also had a tissue paper flower attached to a toothpick all floating in green water.  For another accent I had little flowers inside a small glass jar.  It doesn't seem like much, but it added a bit of color and dimension to my tables.

One my juice table I had put my mini champagne glasses which had more little labels that I had made in Photoshop.  As you can tell I really like to use Photoshop!  I didn’t get a finished picture with my punch bowl and the glasses filled up but hopefully you can imagine what it looked like from this picture…


A combination of the tags on the right were on the stems of the glasses on the left.  Sorry it’s so hard to see.




Above the juice table I had my Happy Birthday Banner which I had also done up in Photoshop.  I added a paper flower I made too.  It’s a 12”x12” sheet of cardstock cut into 1” wide strips with the ends folded into the center and pinned together with a brad.


Above the other tables I had more decorations that I had made from cardstock.





This was such a fun and easy party to create. It was a great basis for more parties. Check out my Facebook Page for some FREE Printables!  Look under my Exclusive Content tab!

Happy Partying!

Penta-Fold Card

So I don’t think that “Penta-Fold” is the proper name of this card, but it sounded good to me so I’m sticking to it.  What do I mean by a Penta-Fold Card?  Let me show you…

So you see this card is folded like an accordion in five.  Each section is it’s own separate vignette completing a larger picture. I’m a huge fan of Precious Moments characters.  They’re so cute!
   
I made this card for my hubby for Father’s Day.  It was supposed to my how my son sees his daddy and how he wants to be just like him.  I know cute right?  So now that Father’s Day is over, my hubby wants to frame it and put it up in his study (which is what I had planned for this card to begin with but it’s nice that he suggested it too).

So Father’s Day is over, but these little images would work for Birthday Cards, Bon Voyage Cards, Sport’s, Recitals, Grad so many options, so instead of sending you to a internet search I’m sharing these images with you.  They are all free coloring pages, that I’ve searched for and you can download them and color them in with fancy markers (like me) or Photoshop them or use Paint.  Whatever, go crazy!  Just click the image and you’ll be taken to Picasa where you can download and save the image to your computer.

Enjoy and I would love to see the projects you’ve made!!

"Fire" Card Tutorial

Here's the tutorial I promised for my "fire" birthday card.

First we pick our main cardstock.  I used a white sheet for the main card and folded it on the longest side (shall now be referd to as 'card') and then picked out two more sheets of cardstock for my accents. (Note the sizes are in the picture, click to englarge)

Then, taking a glue runner (or any type of glue you prefer), run glue around the edge of the black cardstock and center over the white card.

Now we get to do some stamping!  I love stamping!!! Grab your third piece of cardstock, your favorite stamp and some black ink.  Stamp away all over the page.  Voilà!  Homemade patterend paper!  Center your new paper over the card and glue down.

Okay, this piece of cardstock I had not originally planned on, however I decided that my card needed more depth so I grabbed an additional piece of white cardstock (11cm*16cm) and doodled some black lines and colored in randomly with a yellow marker and goldenrod marker (prismacolor brand).  Alternatively you could use whatever patterned cardstock you have on hand, I just didn't have the right colors so I very quickly improvised!  Now, gently tear the edges of the paper on all sides and then glue down at an angle over your yellow cardstock.

We're going to make a 3D fireman sticker!  We print our little fireman out, twice.  1) We trim out one complete image and only the parts we want 3D from the second image (refer to picture) and then glue the images onto whatever random cardstock you have (does not matter because you won't be able to see it).  Next we color him and the other clipped images (I used Prismacolor markers again).
2) Then we cut out the cardstock onto which he is glued.  Then cut out your other images (refer to picture).
3)Flip over your trimed pieces and place your 'pop dots' where they would stick to your complete fireman image.  Remove the backing and glue the images onto your complete fireman.  Voilà! You just made your own homemade 3D sticker!

Now do that all over again for your fire sticker! 
Print your fire twice.  Cut out one complete fire and then cut out the smaller inner flame.  Glue to cardstock; color; cut out.  Place your pop dots.
Take double sided tape and place on the back of the fireman and your fire and glue to card where you like.

 Lets make a ribbon border.  Take a long piece of ribbon (about twice the length that you want for the finished border;  so if you want a 7" border then the ribbon should be close to 14" long aprox).  Cut a strip of cardstock the length of your border, but skinnier than your ribbon's width to ensure you don't see it peeking out.  Take your "Tacky Glue" and draw a line of glue down a small portion of your cardstock.  Place your ribbon down on it, then take up a little section to make a bump and place down your ribbon on the other side.  Continue adding glue and making bumps with your ribbon until you are done your border.  Glue your border down onto your card.

And a tag if you like, and cake on fire inside and your done!

Click here for the fireman, fire and cake images.