Cozy Kitten Cards!

I saw a video online about these cute felt cat cards and really fell in love with them!   I have made several, and the ones you see above I think are the best.  I knew I bought that felt for a reason!  You never know what you are going to need!

I had been recently looking at the greeting cards at Target, and saw how so many of them use different sorts of embellishments, like felt for instance.  At the cost of these "designer" cards, I feel I have justified my die purchase in making just 4 or 5 of these cards.

And they would make great childrens' projects--after I cut the material with the dies that is.  I do not recommend these dies for use by children, but they would certainly have fun with the cut shapes.

This is the "Cat / Dog" die from Paper Smooches.  It can make a cat, a dog, a fox, an owl, a pig, and I am assured many other animals as well.  The dog one I made turned out OK, but not as cute as the cats.  Or maybe I am just partial to cats.

Here is a video to show how to use this die:   http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2017/05/cardmaking-with-felt.html

And even better, I want to use my Cricut Explore to cut some felt shapes for my cards.  Here is a Lori Nunnemaker video that shows her process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDsf13N2k4Y&t=335s
 
     She is making hairbows in the video, but you get the idea.  I have tried cutting felt in my Explore before, but not really successfully.  I have ordered the exact things she uses:  the green mat, the Heat and Bond Ultrahold, and I will give a report when my products arrive.  Cricut has so many cute shapes that would be spectacular cut with felt!

Cards for Kids

I recently purchased from Inky Antics because I love the novelty look of their images and embellishments.  Plus, the stamp sets make great kids cards.  So, above, you are looking at one of the cards I made.  I used the seal and sea lion set to make this fun birthday card which is embellished by a scratch off sticker.  Hence the penny!  This stamp set is part of the Scratch Off stamp sets designed to go with the Scratch Off stickers.  Totally fun!  I colored the images with Copic markers and added a few fun papers, making about 6 or 7 of these cards so I will have birthday cards for the kids at Children's Church.  One has already debuted and it was a hit!  I added some glossy accents to the beach ball for a bit of texture.

Here is another fun card:

Again, colored with Copics and a few bright papers.  Below, the inside:

This card set features elephant images and a 3d feature using HoneyPop paper, another fun item from Inky Antics.  There are a whole series of the these stamp sets geared toward using the honeycomb paper.  Very fun!  A little bit of washi tape and an applauding mouse from the stamp set complete the card.

I find the kids like the stamp sets that use puns, riddles, or an interactive feature of some sort.  I hope they like these amazing cards!

Using New Distress Oxides

Everyone who knows me knows Tuesday is my crafting day!  I get together with friends and make all sorts of fun things.  This week we played with the new Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks.  Yes, I know there are a million blog posts and videos showcasing this product, but now mine is added to the list.

We first focused on making backgrounds with the inks.  The tag to the left above is made with Bristol Board.  The tag to the right is a ready made manila tag (I may have used a white one.)  We smooshed the inks onto the craft mat, added water, then dragged our tags/papers through.  Heat set, then again in the ink.  Lovely results!  I can't tell you what colors I used because I don't remember, but you can probably guess from the colors in the picture because there are only 12 colors of these inks.

When the ink was dry, I used flourish stamps to overstamp in white pigment ink and then heat emboss with white powder.  Additional stamping, then added a cut out faux postage stamp (Hero Arts) that I colored with various media.

The secondary flourish on the card, to the right of the tag, is a Tim Holtz flourish die that I cut in white card then added the Nuvo embellishment mousse in turquise.  The cards are matted with scrap papers or previous stampings I had done.  Trying to use up stash!  Here's a pic of additional cards:

I have to say I am at the moment loving these Distress Oxide inks.  Lovely, lovely backgrounds.

Happy Graduation!

Sorry for the blurry picture--I must have been in a hurry to upload.  I have been busy, busy cardmaking and can't wait to share all my creations!

I needed three graduation cards, so here is what I came up with.  I used my new paper weaving die I got recently from Inky Antics.  Such a fun die, but I had thumb problems--pain and swelling--from making so many paper woven cards!  I will have to pace myself with these!

I had gotten a fabulous little 6" paper pad from Jo Ann's on sale--full of colorful solids that I thought would be good to have on hand for my Cricut cutting.  They were so colorful, and did I say glitzy?!  I set the colorful strips off with a black background for this card.

When I first got the paper weaving die, the directions indicated to use quilling strips for the woven strips.  So I did!  But I didn't realize until I already made two (so much weaving!) that the directions called for 1/4" quilling strips.  I had been using 1/8" strips.  Duh!  So when I made this card I hand cut my strips to 1/4".  I did find that the weaving goes so much better if you actually use a scant 1/4" or just a little less than 1/4" wide.

I think the colorful strips set off with a black background were the perfect backdrop for the little graduation figure (Stampington) which I have had for years and haven't used for years.  I used a regulation blue for the graduation robe, but if you were thoughtful and not in a hurry (like me) you could customize the robe to the school colors.

So, three graduation cards finally finished and ready for the mail.  Check that job off!  Thank you, papercrafting supplies!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is the card we are going to make in Children's Church tomorrow.  I got the design from Lia Griffith.  I love her projects, and she has easy downloads if you belong to her site.  Check it out: liagriffith.com

No affiliation, I am just a fan.

This is a cute cactus design that you punch holes in and then stitch with embroidery floss.  The inside of the card says  "Thanks for helping me grow."  I love it that these are so cute and fast and easy.

Thanks, Lia Griffith, for helping me have a happy mother's day!

Encouragement Card

I made this card as an encouragement card for the college students at our church as graduation and finals approach.  Inside it says, "It's the journey, not the destination that counts.  Go with God, wherever He may lead you, and you will do all right."

I used the Cricut Explore program to create the arrows on the front of the card, importing a simple arrow image and changing the colors of the arrows and varying placement of each.  Then I "print and cut" each card front.  I stamped the sentiment onto vellum and made a vellum band around each of the card fronts before placing the fronts onto the prepared cards.  I had printed the card insides with Word.  The final touch was the little arrow sticker embellishment, which is not only attractive, but also helps hold the vellum band in place.

I have to say, the sentiment stamp (My Sentiments Exactly) was my inspiration for this card.  I got it at Hobby Lobby and knew it would be the perfect message for an inspiration card for students.  I think the vellum, which I also got at Hobby Lobby, stamped beautifully.  I made 22 of these!  Lots of work for my little bug!  and my printer!  and me!  I know the card won't be as appreciated as the gift card that goes inside, but at least the kids know we are thinking about them.