Cricut Trees 2010

Shock horror I didn't stamp my "bulk" Christmas cards last year.  Oooo don't give me that evil look!  Truthfully I wanted to use up some patterned paper that just wasn't speaking to me and the copious amounts of dark green cardstock.  The only thing I actually purchased to make these was a Xyron creative station - oh my how did ever get on without that! Again this past year I went with the smaller card and kept it handmade and still sent them - my frugality came with the size and using up my supplies! We sent out around 90 of these cards.  I know several people that do individual cards for holidays but I always liked sending the same even before I started making them! 

Recipe

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, Recollections, Rob & Bob paper stack (I don't know what number but I have had a few years!)

Accessories - Cricut Expression with Design Studio,  Xyron creative station, Christmas cart.

Fly by Birthday for future Fly boy.

I made this card expressly for my cousin, his heart's desire is to go to Naval Academy and fly as long as he doesn't get too tall!

So truthfully I bought this set from Clear Dollar Stamps specifically with him in mind because whether or not his dreams come true he will always love airplanes.

I made a tonal background using London Fog and Tuxedo Black in my Memento inks, alternating colors and stamps to get a masculine feel.  I colored the focal image with Copics and plenty of color to ensure it stood out.  I matted it on the black and put it to the background and it just seemed to swim on the page.  I decided I needed to break up the background so I adhered the black strip across.  That really made it much better.  I put the card together adding a bit of masculine bling with the silver brads on the corners of the main image.   It was still a bit blah.  So I decided to use the "Happy Birthday" stamp from another Clear Dollar Stamps set (I think Classic Cruisin) and round them so they were like little message clouds.  Hope you like.

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento - Tuxedo Black & London Fog

Color - Copics

Accessories - corner rounder, silver brads.

A little help for a Happy Birthday

Thanks Joan at Paperlicious for the inspiration to create this card.  Joan has been such an overall inspiration to me about exploring life as a daughter, mother and crafter so please visit her blog generally - she has decided to be an occasional blogger and that works for me!  Yeah.  I bet you hadn't guessed that.  Anyway the link is directly to the card that inspired my creation and I hope you enjoy my interpretation.

I was absolutely at wits end on what sort of card to send to my nephew's girlfriend and I hope she liked this.  I thought it was "young" and maybe even "modern" but what do I know! LOL! 

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, K&Co paper

Stamps - Stampendous, Just Rite Stamps

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics, Sakura (glitter, metallic, souffle - yep all of them!), American Craft white pen.

Accessories - Circle nestabilities, rhinestones, punch (unknown ATM) 

A planted wagon of Birthday Cheer.

I'm still trying to decide what I think of this card.  It just seems to lack something but everything I tried to add went wrong so I went with the less is more approach.

So what do you think?  Over cooked it? Under cooked it? or just right?

I started by selecting the image for this card and then the cardstock I wanted to use for the background.  After that I chose Copics that matched the background cardstock.  I then colored some white brads with the copics to match the image and help with the bling factor.  I added glitter pen to the middle of the flowers to help pep up the image.

I wanted it to be bright and cheerful as I was creating this for our lovely Auntie in England who is in her 80s.  I know she has some sight issues so I hope the card was bold enough for her to enjoy it.

Recipe -

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV 

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Color - Copics

Accessories - White & black brads, Martha Stewart punch, Sakura glitter pen

The bluebird of happy birthday

Wow I guess I really have been away from my blog for a while what with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and life in general.  Well hopefully this card will help you cheer up and inspire you to think warm thoughts!

This card was for my Sister in Law.  She loves gardening and although her birthday is at the end of October I thought it would make a change for her to get a card suited to her interests rather than the autumnal season.

What isn't obvious about this card was immediately after stamping "Sister in Law" I lost the stamps.  They are clear and I couldn't find them on my work table anywhere.  I looked and looked and nearly emailed the manufacturer about whether they make replacements after I had exhausted any idea of where they could have fallen when they just turned up right where I had previously looked.  I'm putting it down to pre Christmas stress!

I like the juxtaposition of the formal font for the greeting with the whimsical stamps.  Do you think it works?

I stamped the front panel wanting to keep all the stamping on one layer and make an impact with the white space.  The bird and birdhouse on the inside I did stamp and cut out and apply as I didn't want bleed through to the back of the card.  I also put some scrap cardstock inside an envelope and stamped and colored the envelope with that inside to prevent bleed through to the back of the envelope and to give my Sister in Law a glimpse of what her card was going to be about.

I really like this card - almost too much to send!

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source (black)

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, High Hopes Stamps

Ink - Memento tuxedo black and blue danube (?)

Color - Copics

Ding Dong! or is that Dingbat?

 This is the culmination of a card idea I have had in my head for literally years.  It all goes back to when I was in the school play "The Wizard of Oz" in 5th grade, and then years later saw a doormat at a Warner Bros store with the legs sticking out and "Ding Dong" on the mat.  I kicked myself later for not buying that doormat.  So this is my way of making sense of it all and creating a card to celebrate such a great movie/play.

I stamped the legs and shaded them with copics and colored in the ruby red slippers with my sakura glitter gel pen.  I cut them out to place on the background which is a brick pattern stamped on yellow cardstock  The wording I cut using my cricut, design studio and  Plantin SchoolBook font.

Recipe -

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, The Paper Source

Stamps - Viva Lasvegastamps, Cornish Heritage Farms (I think they closed earlier this year and haven't heard if anyone is offering their designs elsewhere).

Color- Sakura, Copic

Cricut Expression - Plantin SchoolBook

Txt me L8r - HB2U

 Another Stampendous set that I used for my youngest's birthday card.  I think what really made the card was the glossy accents over the phone after I colored it with copics.  The "holey" border I made whilst playing with a Martha Steward punch.  Another "look" I won't be replicating as it took forever to line up the holes for each edge, but I like the effect.  The background I took inspiration from some fabric I saw at Hancock's Fabrics.  I still might buy some to make a pelmet for his room!

Recipe
Card size - 5.5 x 8.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, The Paper Source
Stamps - Stampendous
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Accessories - Martha Stewart punch