More Cards

Hello, I have a few more cards to share today. First up is a birthday card for my daughter. I started with a piece of sparkle Yupo paper and alcohol inks. I swirled the inks on the paper. I realized that my Yupo paper was a little small, so I offset it on the teal cardstock piece. I used my Cricut to cut the dancer and then draw the dancer and write the sentiment. The outline of the dancer made it easier for me to adhere the pieces in the right spots.

For my next two cards, I used the same base- I used a background stamp and ombre inkpad and then added cardstock stars that were in my scrap drawer. For the first card, I cut the sentiment with my Cricut.

For the second card, I stamped and punched the tickets. I added the recipient's age with a number sticker on one of the tickets. 

For my final card, I used a mask and ink blended the circles with a couple of colors of blue ink and some white pigment ink for a kind of tone on tone background. I stamped, colored and fussy cut the balloons and dog, adhering them directly to the card and with some foam adhesive. 

 Thanks for stopping by to check out my cards! Hopefully I'll get back to scrapping soon!

Cards- Starting Points

Hello, I have some cards to share today. For these cards, I went through my "scrap drawer" and found some pieces to use as a starting point.

First up is an anniversary card. I started with the background already stamped and colored, which saved a ton of time. Since the background was so colorful, all I did was use my Cricut to cut the sentiments and adhered them to the background. I layered the red one over a shadow in black to make it stand out a bit more. 

I had a pre-stamped background for this card too. I used a new inkpad when I had stamped the background and the pad was quite juicy so the imprint was kind of muddy. To help mask the issues with the stamped image, I started by adding a piece of vellum slightly smaller than the bakcground. I ran that through an embossing folder to add some texture and interest. I cut the sentiment with my Cricut and adhered it to the vellum. I finished things off with a scattering of gold sequins.

This card started with the sentiment strip. It is a piece of yupo paper that had been colored with alcohol inks and the sentiment was stamped with lift off ink. I then found ink pads in coordinating colors and stamped the background with the "Marbled" turnabout stamp. I then found coordinating cardstock and cut the party hat with the Cricut. Some sequins and Stickles add some sparkle to the card. 

 Come back tomorrow for a few more cards!

November Calendar Page

Hello, it's been a while! I've been spending my time taking and editing photos for my business. I was able to squeeze in making a calendar page and some cards (which I'll be sharing over the next few days. I started with the October two page sketch from Stick It Down:

I pulled out some coordinating patterned papers with some fall colors. I cut the pieces and found a grey that went with the grey on the floral paper. I stuck pretty close to the sketch for the photos, just doing four instead of 5 in the strip on the right hand page. I cut the title with my Cricut and stamped the journaling lines. I used some spray ink to add splatters to my page, both spritzing and tapping the straw for larger splats. I embellished the page with some fussy cut leaves and stickers. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my layout!
 

Material Girl

I finished my older daughter's dance album just in time for her graduation, now onto my next daughter who graduates next year! 

For this layout I used this sketch from Stick It Down:

I started by finding a Cricut background cut that I could cut down for the background. I decided where I would trim it and laid it on my background. I marked where it ended and then took an ink pad and drug it across the cardstock. I then glued the cut background down. This cut had a frame that I cut off and then took some of the stripes and brought them to the edges of the paper. I layered my photos on top. Down the right side, I found some ribbon that was the right color and combined it with a torn sheet of patterned paper. For the title, I used my Cricut to cut the words from black cardstock and the offset from holographic silver cardstock. To embellish the page I found all the pink and black flowers I could. I also dug out the "It's a girl thing" and purse stickers from a sheet I've had for a very long time that I thought fit this layout perfectly. The chipboard flowers were inked to match the colors of the layout. I topped the fabric flowers with coordinating buttons. I finished off the layout with a journaling sticker/

 

Cards

I have several cards to share again. A couple of pairs that started with the same base and then I changed up the embellishments and one from a sketch.

First up is this pair using the Altenew Daisy Craze mask set. I used different colors for each of the cards, but both were blended on white shimmer cardstock. For the purple card, I used my Cricut to cut the flower border and then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on vellum. I finished off the cards with some irridescent sequins. For the second card, I stamped and fussy cut the butterflies. For the big one, I adhered the middle down to the card front with regular adhesive and then added small strips of foam adhesive to the wings to give them a little dimension. I stamped the "happybirthday to you" twice and added it as a tail to the large butterfly.

My second pair of cards used the Altenew Sunburst stencil. I based my colors on the colors in the dot patterned paper. For the first card, I used my Cricut to cut the burst and sentiment. For the second I cut the basket from vinyl for the shine and I thought the design would cut better from vellum and the disc from cardstock. The burst and the disc are attached with foam adhesive. I finished off the first card with a scattering of foil stars.

For my final card, I used the September card sketch from Stick It Down: 

I started by blending the flowers on cream pearl paper using the Concord and 9th Petal Pushers mask set. While that dried, I used an embossing folder on the bottom couple inches of the card for some texture. I cut the sentiment using my Cricut and used the same cardstock to mat the inked panel. I added a few liquid pearls for a little more sparkle.

 

October Calendar Page

Hello! I have some catching up to do again! I'm going to start with my October calendar page today. I used this sketch from Page Maps:

I split all of the vertical photos so that I could fit more on my layout. Otherwise, I stuck pretty close to the sketch. I used a variety of fall papers,  mixing and matching manufacturers and collections. For the large cards across the bottom, i used some cut aparts, stickers and patterned paper. The small banners were fussy cut from a sheet of patterned paper. I cut the title using my Cricut. I embellished the page with stickers, chipboard, and brads.

 

September Calendar Page and a Card

Hello all! I have my September calendar page to share along with a card, both using sketches from Stick It Down:

First up is the double page sketch:

This is a great sketch to use up scraps. I pulled out a 6x6 pad and an 8x8 pad and used my Cricut to cut the hexagons from the scraps. I then adhered them to my cardstock. I then found some coordinating cardstocks and matted my photos with them. I stamped the flowers around the corners of the photos and then adhered my photos. I found the arrow washi tape and used that in my corners. For the journaling, I used cardstock strips to caption the photos and stamped journaling lines and added more info on the bottom. For the title, I used foam letter stamps.

I also used this months' card sketch:

This was a pretty quick card to put together. I started by stamping the star and dot background with Versamark ink and used three colors of embossing powder. Once the was heated and cooled, I added the dog sticker. I used foam adhesive behind the treats to add dimension to my card front. I used my Cricut to cut the sentiment.

 

Creative Memories Sketches- Two Layouts

Hello! I participated in the Creative Memories virtual crop this month on Facebook again. Each month, they post four sketches in the group for everyone to use. You are supposed to use mostly Creative Memories products, but I use what I have. I like that the sketches have lots of photos on them!

First up is this single page sketch:

I adjusted the number and sizes of the photos to work with the photos I had. I used some fun patterned papers. I used my Cricut for the ladybugs and title. I finished off the layout with some puffy heart stickers and a canvas flair button.

 Next, I used this double page sketch:

I didn't have two sheets of patterned paper to use on the background, so I used a mask and ink blended the wonky ovals. I used my Cricut to cut the wave border, the circles, and the title. I embellished the page with some stickers, puffy stickers, and flair buttons. I love the soft colors of this one!

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!