Kindergarten

After all those cards, I was able to create a layout as well! Sketches In Thyme posted their first sketch for August and I thought it would work well for these photos of my kids from their first and last day of school.

My photos are different sizes, but the grid worked well with these. I used several of the decorative branding strips for this layout. I used a couple of scraps of coordinating patterned paper as well. For the title, I used my Cricut to cut the letters on the little tabs. To embellish the page, I used some rub ons, stickers, and puffy stickers. At this point, I realized that I had the first and last day photos flipped. Since I had rub ons over them, there was no moving the photos, so I just swapped the labels which is why the last day of school photos are on top. I used my sewing machine to add the stitching.

 

More Cards

Here are the last of my cards for now. I mentioned a couple of days ago I was using up some papers from collections that are down to scraps, the first three cards today were part of those efforts. 

For my first card, I had this cute dog and sprinkler paper. I trimmed it down so the dog was in the top right and it left me space for a sentiment in the bottom left. I used my Cricut to cut the splatter and the word "Blast" and to write "Have a." I glued the letters onto the splatter and then adhered it to the page with foam tape for some dimension. I added a dark brown border to the background panel to make it look a little more finished.

This card started with the sticker. I knew I had some of this wave paper, so I cut a chunk to fit my card front. I used a light blue watercolor paper for the sky and layered the two papers together. I added the sticker to the top of the waves. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a scrap of the watercolor patterned paper and ripped the end before adhering it to the card. At this point, I felt like the sky needed a little something, so I added some water to a drop of gesso and splattered it on the background.

For this card, I started with the three popsicle panel. I added the sticker letters on the popsicles. I then found the houndstooth paper to use for the background. The red one on the bottom was actually pink, which was bugging me, so I colored over it with an orange marker to make it match the red in the popsicle. I used a border punch on another scrap of patterned paper for the strip below the popsicle panel. I finished off this card by covering the popsicles with Glossy Accents.

My final card is the card I made for my husband for our anniversary. I found this tree drawing file in Cricut Access and used my Cricut to draw it on water color paper. I then painted in the tree with a waterbrush and inks. I did a very pale wash of light blue on the background. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a piece of vellum and ripped the edges before adhering it to my card.

 

Masculine Cards

I have already shared some masculine cards over the last couple of days, but I have a couple more that didn't fit into either of the previous categories. For this first card, I used the July card sketch from Stick it Down and the inspiration picture from The Card Concept:

I started by stamping the background with the chicken wire stamp. I then found patterned paper scraps in shades of blue and ripped the edges. I layered them across the bottom of the card. The sentiment is actually stamped on the back of a branding strip that was just a solid light blue. I used my Cricut to cut the stars and then ran them through an embossing folder for some texture.

 

For my second card, I used a brick embossing folder on a sheet of tan white washed Core-dinations cardstock. I sanded the raised areas and then used a small blending brush to add some brown inks to some of the bricks for some interest and depth. I wanted a graffiti look to the sentiment, so I found a font that had a more handwritten style and used some spray ink to added the green to the center of the card front.

Cards with Die Cuts

I've had a Cricut Access subscription the last couple of months because I got a discount, so I put it to use on my cards this summer. Today I'm sharing cards where the cut is the focus.

First is an anniversary card where I used a whole panel. I cut it from gold foil cardstock. I then layered it over a piece of watercolor paper and used a pencil to outline some of the areas. I then removed the die cut and loosely watecolored the background. Once it was dry, I adhered the die cut. I finished it off by filling the smaller hearts with Glossy Accents.

I used die cuts for both of my Father's Day cards this year. For the first card, I used a watercolor patterned paper that looked like land and sky as my background. I stamped the trees and geese and then adhered the bears. I didn't want to fuss with the tiny centers of the letters, so I drew them in with a dark brown pen.

For my next card, I used an embossing folder on silver foil cardstock for the background. I then adhered the die cut over the top- super simple!

For this card, I was using up some patterned papers from some collections that are pretty picked over. I decided to add a large popsicle to the center for the sentiment. I had initially made a pink popsicle, but I wanted to bring out some of the colors in the center panel, so I remade them green. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with light blue embossing powder. I finished off the card with a sprinkle of sequins.

For my final card, I started with a tie die mask and blended it first in one colored and then turned it 90 degrees and blended it with a second color. I cut the soccer ball from vinyl, which tends to work better with designs this fine. I masked off the center of the card in the size of the ball before inking the background to keep the ball white. I cut the numbers from gold foil cardstock. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold. Funny story on this card- it's for my son, who turned 15. As I was finishing up the card, I remembered that my son's actual number is 16- oops, almost. 😝

 

Card Pairs

If you've been around here for a while, you know I make lots of cards in June and July for family birthdays and anniversaries. One of the ways I try to streamline this process is by making more than one card with the same or similar design at a time. Here are several that I did this year.

First up is a pair of masculine cards. I started by using the marble turnabout stamp for the background with a few different shades of blue. I then used my Cricut to cut the center design and sentiment.

Next up is a birthday and anniversary card with the same design, just a different sentiment. I used a leaf embossing folder with green cardstock for the background. I then used my Cricut to cut the flowers and sentiments from cardstock. I finished off these cards with some sequins.

For my next two cards, I started by smooshing a few colors of ink onto watercolor paper. Once that was dry, I used a stencil and Distress Resist Spray on a blending foam. I let that dry and then I rubbed a navy ink pad over the paper so the flowers were left to show. I then found a coordinating color of cardstock and stamped the larger flowers in the same colors of ink on there. I cut the sentiments from silver foil cardstock. I finished the cards off with silver Nuvo drops.

My next two cards are some fun birthday cards. I used the same cut file and papers for both. For the first card, I stamped and heat embossed the background. I then went with markers and colored it in. Since the background was so busy, I outlined the sentiment with a blue marker to make it stand out more. For the second card, I inked the background of a piece of watercolor paper. I let that dry and then stamped the star and dot background with Versamark and heat embossed it with clear powder. I then inked over the top with navy ink.

For my final pair, I used the same background stamp, heat embossing it with silver powder before watercoloring it with Distress inks. I used my Cricut to cut the sentiment and hearts for the anniversary card and the center medallion for the birthday card. I stamped and fussy cut the butterflies. I finished off the birthday card with a sentiment strip.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my cards!

 

June, July, and August Calendar Pages

Aw man, it's been a minute- or two months! I have done some creating between driving kids to activities and doing photo sessions. Today I'm going to start with my calendar pages for the past three months.

First up is June. I used this sketch from PageMaps:

I love how many photos fit on this layout and I was able to divide up the photo spots on the right hand page to get a couple more onto the layout. I followed the sketch pretty closely. For the green scalloped blocks, I dusted of the decorative scissors and cut the edges. I sued my Cricut for the title, cutting the word "June" three times for dimension. The embellishments are a combination of stickers, die cuts, puffy stickers and gems from the collection I used on the layout as well as a couple of other companies.

Next up is my July page, which I used this PageMaps sketch on:

I copied this sketch almost exactly. It was fun working with the patriotic papers on this one. I used my Cricut once again for the title. I added a piece of red glitter tape to the right hand page to bring the glitter over there as well. A few stickers from the collection finished things off.

Finally, I have my August page.  I used the July double page sketch from Stick It Down:

I started by using a mask and inking the area behind where I was going to put my title. I cut the title using my Cricut from white cardstock. I then went to work laying out my photos. I used the photos on the sketch as inspiration, but I added more photos, so my photo layout looks different. I added a few scraps of patterned paper behind the photos. Once I had that all adhered down, I found inks that matched the striped paper (peeking out from under a journaling strip on the left hand page) and used those inks to ink blend the title. I had a package with those two large popsicles still in it, so I decided to use those on either end of my popsicle "banner." I cut the rest from a sheet of patterned paper and stuck them down. I finished off the page with a couple of ice cream cone stickers.